manners and words of such people. From nervousness, and other causes
which I have not been able to trace, girls are apt to pitch their voices
too high, as though they thought to be better able to speak distinctly.
A gruff, mannish voice is worse than a piping, shrill tone in a woman;
but fulness of tone prevents no melody, and this comes from a medium
pitch. In the very modulations of the voice are detected excellence
and refinement. The human voice, in its sounds and accents, is a record
of character: trust it as the key-board of the human being.

May I remind you here, girls, of the harm arising from loud talk in
public places? How many times do we suffer annoyance from the noisy
voice in the car, the station, or on the street! How bold and immodest
such tones are! Some persons seem to think the public is not to be
regarded, and that it has no right to criticism. They appear to believe
that a train is no different than an open field, where the voice needs
no restraint, and where manners are not the most refined. They treat
the passengers with as little care as they do the cars; for, while
they make a waste-basket of the latter, they regard the former as so
many brazen images to be stared at _ad libitum_. Passengers have
ears, though they themselves be removed from the talkers by the distance
of a seat or two.

Now about the words you use, girls. I fully realize the expressiveness
of slang and the convenience of exaggeration. But if a peach pie is
almost "divine," and the Hudson River "awfully lovely," what can be
said of the New Testament and Niagara Falls? What is to become of the
poor innocent words in the English language which mean only delicious
and beautiful? By a girl's words know her; but, oh! never by the slang
she uses. This use of slang is really a serious matter. Honest words
are so misconstrued, and propriety in the employment of them so