PUBLIC READINGS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 610, 26 December 1873, Page 2

PUBLIC READINGS.

In the first place it must be admitted whether trained or not there are few elocutionists, but there are some penpie who run away with the idea if they can read, it necessarily follows that they can do so in pub re, without pausing to consider whether they have the gift for this =ort ef thing, or whether they have received any oratorical training—but how different is the ideal to the reality of going , n the public a* age with the view of enchaining the public att. ntion for ten or twenty ininnt-s—w hat seemed easy before all at once becomes difBruit, and the voice that soun led ri hj a_d distinct, falling and ii-ing in true cadence to the spirit of the piece; nowbecoines suddenly charged, and cither sinks into a low and indistinct whine, or rises to an idiotic bellow or shout, or assumes a stiffness and constraint, tnus rendering ths performance irksome an.l painful to all who!her reader or audience. Xo doubt there a;e many who can take up a newspaper and read aloud at their lire-cido any p.'tseace that uiay particularly strike them, whether >n prose or vetse, in an intelligible and picaring manner. This happy remit can be produced on the 3‘age by the aid of study, and we would advise all - r « ventnrin; before the public to stu ly ‘he parts allotted them, or signal failure mast ensue.