The Voice and Spiritual Education

The Voice and Spiritual Education is a book by Hiram Corson. The prefatory note says the purpose of the book is to emphasize the importance of vocal culture in its relations to literary and general culture, and not, except incidentally, to impart elocutionary instruction. The text quotes the advice Enter into the spirit of what you read, read naturally, and you will read well, as about the sum and substance of what Archbishop Whateley teaches on the subject in his Elements of Rhetoric.

The text says the influence of the voice for good or evil, in the domestic, social, and all other relations of life, cannot be estimated. The text says a voice may even have a good or bad reflex action upon its possessor, and that a slovenly articulation may be the index of a moral slovenliness. The text says the memory of a voice which was toned by love and sympathy may continue to be a sweet influence long after the voice itself has been hushed in death. An index lists entries such as Belshazzar's Feast, Books, children's, and Brain slaughter in the schools, among others.