Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1890 — Teachers and Gentle Voices. [ARTICLE]

Teachers and Gentle Voices.

That “excellent thing in woman”— and in man al-:o, when in the schoolroom—the “gentle” voice, though not necessarily “soft” or “low,” is a means of grace to teacher and taught alike. Few teachers realize how accurately their gain or loss in influence can be measured by the quality of the tone in which they talk. There is no excuse for the hard, sharp, rasping tone so •common as to be usually reckoned one of the characteristics of a “schoblma’am,” even in the noisiest room or among the most unruly children. The law of similia similibus curantur does not hold good in such a case. Screaming and shouting at children is to make demons even of little angels, and they must be angelic, indeed, who can escape such transformation. The teacher should know how to make distinctness serve in place of force, to the end of sparing her own throat and the nerves of her pupils.— Ladies’ Home Journal r