“Hush thy babble, O fountain! Let me listen, let melisten!”
THE SPEAKER’S
Ideal Entertainments;
FOR
Home, Church and School.
CONSISTING OF
Recitals, Dialogues and Dramas.
WRITTEN AND EDITED BY
GEORGE M. VICKERS.
With Annotations, Hints upon Gesture
and Dramatic Poses, by
FRANCES E. PEIRCE,
PRINCIPAL OF MT. VERNON INSTITUTE
OF ELOCUTION AND LANGUAGES, PHILADELPHIA.
S. I. BELL & CO.
PHILADELPHIA AND CHICAGO.
Copyright, 1892, by S. I. Bell.
INTRODUCTION.
In preparing this work for the public it has been our aim to choosethe very best, and every selection has been made with a specialview to elocutionary merits. The “Speakers’ Ideal” is composedof carefully selected pieces from the writings of well knownauthors, and as a source of supply to the giver of dramatic entertainments,from which they may obtain at once a suitable subjectfor declamation, recital, dialogue and drama, this volume is withouta peer.
The work contains many new pieces not found in any otherbook, and we have been able to secure a number of selections inthe original manuscript, which are here published for the first time.Most of the recitations are accompanied by Annotations for Gesture,by which the amateur, as well as the elocutionist, may be guidedin the necessary action, and by a method so extremely simple thatthe novice who has never had the privilege of instructions in theart of elocution will be enabled to give that indispensable accompaniment,without which, there can be neither natural, oratorical,nor dramatical delivery. This important feature has been carefullyprepared by one who stands at the head of the profession as aninstructor of elocution, and is found in no other “Speaker.”
Another of the chief characteristics of this work is the largenumber of full-page and exquisitely engraved half-toned plates,which have been taken from life and produced at large expenseexpressly for this book. The “Speakers’ Ideal” contains everycharacteristic of a complete book of elocution, and is, strictly speaking,the only “Speaker” ever published.
The unprecedented success that has attended the sale of thefirst editions, is proof that our hope to supply a long-felt want hasbeen fully realized, and it is with entire confidence in its merits thatwe present this work to the public.
THE PUBLISHERS.
NOTATION OF GESTURE.
As a tree without leaves, so is recitation without gesture; but the most beautifulpieces are sometimes marred and burlesqued by awkward or inappropriateaction. Our object, therefore, in presenting our system of notationis not to teac