on you, be sure to hold a reserve supply of residual air: set it
vibrating, and your voice on its outward passage will receive an
enrichment of volume, force, and music.

[Side note: Inflection: its necessity]

"Go slowly and articulate well" are not sufficient. "Inflect your
language" must be added. A student should practise assiduously
till his sentences become as flexible as a cutting whip, capable
of being bent to every mood and of lending themselves to every
passion. In pathos his words should sink almost to a sob, tearful
in their plaintiveness; in denunciation they should rise,
muttering the voices of the storms; and in narrative the proper
pitch is ordinary middle tone.

[Side note: French and English want inflection]

It is in this want of inflective grace that English, and more
especially French, speakers lose so much of their force. Both
read admirably and articulate with precision, but the unvaried
straight line tone, so suited to reading, will not serve the
purpose when we not only wish to make people understand, but also
endeavour to move their passions.

[Side note: The secret power of a good story-teller]

Recall a good story-teller or speaker of whom you never wearied;
go back in memory and see how much he owed to the power contained
in the inflected voice--the varied tones that sank or swelled as
suited the mood or passion.