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11-27-20

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

THE demand for this book indicates that there is a strong desire for improved reading and speaking. I wish to thank many correspondents, from all parts of the kingdom, and from America, who have taken so warm an interest in the subject on which I have sought to stir public opinion. Language is the greatest power in the world. It creates every other power. English is the most powerful tongue in the world to-day. Science, art, commerce, the intellect, the soul-all bask under it. Nowhere else is there such a literature as we possess. Liberty has been born and fostered under it. By-and-by the English tongue will be the world's tongue. It is worth our while, then, to study it. To quicken its study has been my object in this book, and to raise the standard of speaking in the Senate, in the Church, at the Bar, in the School, in the Home.

There is little to add to what I have written, which is the outcome of many years' practice and experience. But I wish to say to those who desire to train and strengthen their voice, that I believe the most successful speakers, as well as thinkers, have been those who

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were abstemious in eating and drinking. best tonics for the voice are Air and Water. as well as speakers, know that stimulants are not either good or necessary for the voice. We cannot squander our vital force in high living, and continue to preserve our best powers of thinking and speaking. I have no hesitation in telling students that two of the best friends to health, and therefore to the voice, are early rising and strictly abstemious habits. We live more quickly now in a day than our forefathers did in a year. In this railway age the wear and tear of life are tremendous. Half our diseases come from overwork of the brain, to the neglect of the body and of the laws of health. Thinkers and speakers, therefore, cannot be too careful of brain, body, and health.

JAS. FLEMING.

ST. MICHAEL'S VICARAGE, S. W.

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