Nature gave John an object lesson by showing him a horse running away, and as he tells his story she smiles and says, “I am making an orator of John.” John opens his mouth; there is freedom in the vocal organs, plenty of nerve energy—and the result is Animation of Voice. It was John’s desire to have the other boys see with their minds the things he was telling them of that caused his mouth to open. There was no such inducement in the schoolroom. A boy wants to know that he is of some use in the world. He will open his mouth when he has a proper impulse for so doing. To impart is natural to a boy; if he has anything good, and it is not too material, he likes to share it. The first thing to cultivate, in order to open the vocal organs and free them from all hindrances, is the disposition _to impart to others what the_ _mind has seen_. To be interested in the subject is not sufficient; it is the desire to _impart_ which will open the vocal organs, free them and give them nerve energy.
The second chapter in this volume is Smoothness of Voice. When the mind of the speaker is steadily concentrated upon the thought for the exclusive purpose of causing other minds to act upon it, the tones under the repetition of drill gradually tend to evenness. To get this result, I once worked with pupils to make them hold the diaphragm and abdominal muscles in right relation to each other, and in one way or another, to manipulate all the organs which are actually employed in sustaining the tones; but I found that as soon as a thought was held steadily in the mind of the pupil, together with a dominating purpose to communicate that thought to others in a way to affect their minds in a definite manner the voice began to show evenness of support.
The third chapter is Volume of Voice. Volume is from the Latin word _volumen_, which signifies a roll. Originally, it signified the form of a written parchment. It now contains several significances, among others, that of a certain form and quality of voice. By Volume, when applied to voice, I mean that form and quality which affect the ear as a large column of free tone. This column of tone is so perfectly guided that the sides of the vocal tube never interfere with its progress. If the voice touches any side of the tube, Volume will not be reported in the tone; for in Volume all limitation is taken away, and the voice, like Browning’s Squadron, escapes through a narrow channel as if “its inch of way were the wide seas profound.” The vessel must keep its inch of way; an inch to the right or an inch to the left, and it is dashed against the rocks. A tenth of an inch to the right or left, or upward or downward, and the vocal column is dashed against the vocal tube, and Volume is destroyed. Nothing but the right thought can properly direct this vibrating column of air. The desire to reveal the value and depth of the thought brings to the voice this quality called Volume.