As you sat by the winter's fire your flesh was made to creep and
your hair stood on end in terror while you furtively stole a
glance around looking for the apparition described in the weird
ghost story. The secret power that somewhere lay enthralled you.
Was it not in the husky whisper or the hush of restraint? Let
that speaker tell the same story in the middle pitched narrative
tone, and lo! the spell is vanished. If the thunder thrills that
rocked and vibrated through his voice were taken from
Demosthenes, would he have ever driven Eschines into exile?

[Side note: Two advantages of inflection]

The practice of varied cadences in speech has two genuine
advantages--_it saves the speaker from fatigue and the hearers
from weariness_.

When a man varies his tone of voice he breaks up the arrangement
in the group of muscles that till then bore the stress of effort:
a new combination is formed, and the work transferred to fresh
muscles. This brings instant relief. A similar sense of
refreshment comes to his hearers.

In speaking, as in singing, we must have melody, but there is no
melody without variety. People would rush even from a Melba if
she sang every note in the same key. Inflection not only
constitutes the melody of speech, but imparts to it rhetorical
significance and logical force.

The want of success in many a speaker who has both a good voice