CHAPTER IX

STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS

Under the above title, attention is called not only to illustrations of direct and indirect quotations as used in conversation, but also to the variety of selections showing other uses of this literary form. Much of the material of the former class might have been placed in the preceding chapter with propriety because each illustration is plainly divided into the introduction to the quotation and the quotation itself. The proper manner of reading the latter can be determined either from the thought it expresses or from the context.

The reading of quotations other than direct speech is difficult to explain through the medium of the printed page. Just as the printed quotation marks block off the quoted parts for the eye of the reader, something in the manner of the oral reading must perform the same service for the ears of the hearer. Listening to successful readers, it may be observed that the effect is accomplished in one or more of the following ways: A slight pause before or after the quoted parts. A noticeable change in melody, or facial expression. A change in pitch. A change in rate. Careful emphasis.

A touch of impersonation.

Such familiarity with the text as enables the reader to look at his hearers, real or imagined.

In the employment of whatever means the text may

suggest, it should be the aim of a reader to present a quotation in such a way that hearers not alone may notice that it is quoted, but that they must notice it, even as they would notice the printed quotation marks, were they reading for themselves.

PEDAGOGICAL INTRODUCTION

One of the most effective agents in reading passages containing quoted parts is the eye, and such material affords excellent practice in "looking off the book." What teacher is not familiar with the painful efforts of pupils to accomplish this feat, and with the strained, awkward, uneasy, mechanical results! What teacher cannot recall the jerky lifting of the head, the staring eyes, the quick return, the "lost place." Not a few of us can still remember our own first efforts, when the knowledge of what was expected of us harrowed our souls; when we tried to clutch enough words ahead to allow time to look off; when the gluing of our eyes to the page seemed to draw weights to the back of our neck; when our head came up with a jerk, and our heart with a bound; when a moment was a year, the familiar objects a blur, and the return was confusion, — for we had lost our place.

Taking a look backward at that experience, what was it we needed? We needed first, as beginners in the art of "looking off the book," to know our text, and that the text should not be too long. Then it was supremely necessary that we should have a reason, not for looking off our book, but for looking at our

hearers.

Suppose the reader is beginning a new selection, a

new paragraph, a new topic. He wishes to engage and hold the attention of his hearers from the very start. Now people always like to be talked to better than they like to be read to, provided, of course, that the talker and the reader and the material used by each are equally good. The reader will therefore catch and hold the attention of his hearers better if he speaks the opening clause or sentence just as he would speak it in conversation, looking frankly into their faces, and saying it with spirit and interest. Besides it is "polite" for a reader to pay some attention to his hearers, as well as for them to pay attention to him.

Or, suppose there is a particular point that he wishes them to get. The very best way to make them get it is to say it directly to them. Besides, he cannot know whether they have got the point or not unless he looks into their faces to see. Or, there is a dialogue part that cannot be given naturally unless the speaker looks at some one. To do so he must raise his head and look directly at his real or imagined hearer.

This brings us to another point. Much of the pupil's reading should be done standing before the class. Place him where he can realize that he is reading to some one. Give him the spur of responsibility and coming judgment. But see to it also that the class is seated in such a way that no wasteful amount of time is lost in passing to and from the place for reading. Insist that pupils practice on this point when preparing lessons at home. Insist that, if they do not have a chance to read to some one, they practice on empty chairs, imagining that each contains a hearer to be interested, instructed, or entertained.

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES

1. Well, it was a "surprise," as the President expressed it.

2. "Let me make the ballads of a nation," said Fletcher of Saltoun, "and I care not who makes its laws."

1. Surprise can be uttered in such a way that the hearer will surmise that it is a quoted word even before the text makes it plain. To aid correct expression, precede the reading by reciting, "The President said it was a surprise."

2. Into how many parts may the sentence be divided? Ans. Two: what Fletcher says and what the storyteller says.

Which of the two characters does the reader most naturally become? Ans. The story-teller. Which part must be imagined? Ans. Fletcher's.

How many hearers are needed for the sentence? Ans. At least two: Fletcher's hearer and the storyteller's hearer or hearers. Which ones can the class most naturally become? Ans. The story-teller's. Which hearers must be imagined? Ans. Fletcher's. Where shall we imagine them? Suggestive Ans. Toward the left.

According to the arrangement of the thought, the reader must first speak for Fletcher, then for the storyteller, and then again for Fletcher. Where will you find Fletcher's hearers? Ans. On the left. Will they be sitting or standing (a very necessary consideration in directing the "natural gaze")? Where will you find the story-teller's hearers ?

3. Theodore Parker said that Democracy meant, not "I'm as good as you are," but "You're as good as I am.'

4. The American doctrine was that a foreigner naturalized became an American citizen; the British, "Once an Englishman, always an Englishman."

5. Washington said: "I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an 'honest man.'

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Would there be a difference in Fletcher's voice and the story-teller's voice? In their manner?

What are ballads? Why can people be reached better through ballads than through laws?

"Pudd'nhead Maxims," by Mark Twain, has it, "Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs, either."

3. The difference in the spirit of the two quotations is the striking feature.

4. Inserted to teach the force of the direct quotation as compared with the indirect.

Would it be more effective if the indirect portion were direct? Test.

Test also with the direct made indirect, and weigh the effect.

5. A quotation within a quotation.

Note the seriousness of the speaker.

at you.

Remember that it is not enough that a pupil look He must have a reason for looking. Find out his reason for choosing the particular portion of the text that he uses.