Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/795



Washington, the taxicab which was conveying him and his wife having broken down during a snow flurry in December.—Harper's Weekly.

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Vocabulary and Missionaries—See .

Vocal Practise and Health—See.

VOCIFERATION

The Persians in their battles with the Scythians brought with them from Europe in their train a great number of asses, as beasts of burden, to transport the tents and the baggage of the army. These asses were accustomed in times of excitement and danger to set up a very terrific braying. It was, in fact, all that they could do. And it was effective, for the Scythian horses in their troops of cavalry, who would have faced spears and javelins and the loudest shouts and vociferations of human adversaries without fear, were appalled and put to flight at hearing the unearthly noises which issued from the Persian camp whenever they approached it. The battle was won by the braying of asses.

Any political campaign might stand as a testimony of the power of vociferation. But the really important issues of the world are never decided by the braying of asses.

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Voice—See.

VOICE, A SWEET

The sweet voice of Philip Phillips once charmed the Senate chamber at Washington and won a rare tribute from President Lincoln. It was toward the close of the Civil War. The United States Christian Commission was in session. Statesmen, generals and other leading friends of the Union were there. On being invited to sing, Mr. Phillips rendered Mrs. Gates' "Your Mission," beginning,

"If you can not on the ocean Sail among the swiftest fleet."

As he proceeded every one sat spell-*bound. But when he reached the lines,

"If you can not in the conflict Prove yourself a soldier true; If where fire and smoke are thickest  There's no work for you to do;

When the battle-field is silent You can go with careful tread; You can bear away the wounded, You can cover up the dead,"

the Senate chamber rang with a tempest of applause, and a note was passed to the chairman, Secretary Seward, from the pen of Mr. Lincoln for the singer: "Near the close let us have 'Your Mission' repeated."

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Voice, Knowledge of—See.

VOICE OF GOD

There is an old legend of a nun. She had gone into the thick solitudes to listen to the forest voices. Seated in the shade of a tree she heard a song till then new to her ears. It was the song of the mystic bird. In that song she heard in music all that man thinks and feels, all that he seeks and that he fails to find. On strong wings that song lifted her soul to the heights where it looks upon reality. There, with hands clasped, the nun listened and listened, forgetting earth, sky, time and even self-listened for long centuries, never tiring, but ever finding in that voice a sweetness forever new.

Just such music, only infinitely sweeter, does the soul find that listens amid its solitudes to the voice of God. (Text.)

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VOICE, THE HUMAN

The author of the "Descent of Man" thinks even the human voice is prophetic of the ascent of man. Speaking of the "wonderful power, range, flexibility, and sweetness of the musical sounds producible by the human larynx," he says:

The habits of savages give no indication of how this faculty could have been developed. The singing of savages is a more or less monotonous howling, and the females seldom sing at all. It seems as if the organ had been prepared in anticipation of the future progress of man, since it contains latent capacities which are useless to him in his earlier condition.

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Voice, The Mother's—See.

Voting—See.

Vows—See.