The restoration of health is the physician's profession, but the preservation of it falls to other hands; and it is believed that the time will come, when woman will be taught to understand something respecting the construc5 tion of the human frame; the philosophical results which will naturally follow from restricted exercise, unhealthy modes of dress, improper diet, and many other causes, which are continually operating to destroy the health and life of the young. 10 Again, let our sex be asked respecting the instruction they have received, in the course of their education, on that still more arduous and difficult department of their profession, which relates to the intellect and the moral susceptibilities," Have you been taught the powers and 15 faculties of the human mind, and the laws by which it is regulated? Have you studied how to direct its several faculties; how to restore those that are overgrown, and strengthen and mature those that are deficient? Have you been taught the best modes of communicating knowl20 edge, as well as of acquiring it? Have you learned the best_mode_of_correcting bad moral habits, and forming good ones? Have you made it an object, to find how a selfish disposition may be made generous; how a reserved temper may be made open and frank; how pettishness 25 and ill-humor may be changed to cheerfulness and kindness? Has any woman studied her profession in this respect? It is feared, the same answer must be returned, if not from all, at least from most of our sex:—“ No; we have 30 acquired wisdom from the observation and experience of others, on almost all other subjects; but the philosophy of the direction and control of the human mind, has not been an object of thought or study." And thus it appears, that, though it is woman's express business to rear the 35 body, and form the mind, there is scarcely any thing to which her attention has been less directed. LESSON XLV.-THE TREADMILL SONG.-O. W. HOLMES. [This humorous lyric is introduced to exemplify the 'high' pitch which belongs to gaiety and merriment. The note of the voice is, in the reading of such compositions as this, quite above that of dignified conversation. It is, properly, that of the talking tone, excited to the mood of mirth, which is always comparatively high-pitched. It happens, also, to exemplify 'loud' and 'lively' utterance. The practice of passages of this description, imparts spirit and pliancy to the voice, and prevents habits of dull and monotonous reading. A high, ringing tone, such as we hear in the play-ground, should pervade the utterance, in the reading of this and similar compositions.] [#1] The stars are rolling in the sky, 5 10 15 20 25 30 The earth rolls on below, And we can feel the rattling wheel Then tread away, my gallant boys, Why should not wheels go round about, Wake up, wake up, my duck-legg'd man, Arouse, arouse, my gawky friend, And shake your spider-legs: What though you 're awkward at the trade? So lean upon the rail, my lad, And take another turn. They 've built us up a noble wall We 've nothing in the world to do So faster, now, you middle men, It's pleasant work to ramble round Here tread upon the long man's toes; And punch the little fellow's ribs, And tweak that lubber's ear:- But poke him in the farther eye, Hark! fellows, there's the supper-bell, 5 It's pretty sport,-suppose we take If ever they should turn me out When I have better grown, LESSON XLVI.-DARKNESS.-Byron. [The following piece is designed for practice in 'very slow' utter ance. The tone of horror, which pervades the whole description, besides being very low in pitch, is always slow, to extreme. The chief object in view, in such exercises, is to obtain a perfect command of the 'rate' of utterance; so as to give, when necessary, all the effect of solemnity, awe, and even horror, which characterize the reading of such passages as abound in the 'Paradise Lost,' and in the 'Night Thoughts.' The least acceleration of voice, in such cases, destroys the effect of the reading, and impairs the power of the po etry, on the ear and the heart.] [5] I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars 5 Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Happy were those who dwelt within the eye A fearful hope was all the world contained : The flashes fell upon them. Some lay down, Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up 5 And gnashed their teeth and howled. The wild birds shrieked, And, terrified, did flutter on the ground, And flap their useless wings: the wildest birds And War, which for a moment was no more, All earth' was but one thought, and that was death Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh ; 20 Even dogs assailed their masters,-all, save one, The birds, and beasts, and famished men, at bay, And a quick, desolate cry, licking the hand The crowd was famished by degrees; but two 30 And they were enemies; they met beside Where had been heaped a mass of holy things And, shivering, scraped, with their cold, skeleton hands, 35 The feeble ashes; and their feeble breath Blew for a little life, and made a flame, Which was a mockery; then they lifted up Each other's aspects,-saw, and shrieked, and died, 40 Even of their mutual hideousness they died, Unknowing who he was upon whose brow Famine had written fiend. The world was void; The populous and the powerful was a lump,- The rivers, lakes, and ocean, all stood still; And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropped, The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave; LESSON XLVII.-GOD. -Derzhavin, translated by [The piece which follows, is designed for practice in the 'very slow' rate which characterizes deep awe. Reverence, solemnity, and awe,-but especially the last,-incline to extreme slowness, great prolongation of single sounds, and remarkably long pauses. The tone of these emotions is deep, although not so peculiarly low, as that which was exemplified in the preceding lesson. Length of vowe! sounds, and length of pauses, are the main objects of practice, in such exercises.] O Thou eternal One! whose presence bright Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight; Whom none can comprehend, and none explore; In its sublime research, philosophy May measure out the ocean-deep,-may count |