HOW TO ACQUIRE A PLEASING VOICE
If you would have a beautiful voice shun its two greatest enemies,
coryza (cold in the head) and the evil emotions.
Every woman would have a beautiful voice, for it is indeed one of the
most excellent things in woman. To my mind it is the most desirable
possession in the world. But then I am a singer. I wish only to be a
singer. If the singing voice were denied me I should choose, if I might
have my choice, first a lovely face, then a lovely figure, and third a
charming speaking voice.
There have been beautiful women without agreeable voices, but never
a fascinating one. The voice rather than the eyes is the seat of
magnetism. Many a plain woman has enjoyed that invaluable gift of
personal magnetism and students of character have been baffled by it
until they guessed the riddle of her voice. Plain women with low, well
modulated voices with the heart note in them, are more dangerous rivals
than pretty women who screech as peacocks. Painfully often the pretty
face and figure are accompanied by the harsh, squeaking voice. The
reason is the same that exists for the fact that pretty women seldom
cultivate the power of charm. Content with what nature has given them,
they make no effort to be responsive or entertaining. Their voices fall
gratingly upon all ears but their own, which have been dulled by praise
of their natural beauty.
Every woman may not have a sweet voice, but every woman may have an
agreeable one. The pleasantest speaking voice is more often made than
born. It is susceptible of cultivation.
The uncultivated voice reflects the emotions as candidly as the eye
mirror forth the soul. Culture of person and voice gradually suppress,
or at least restrain, this faculty. If the voice be pleasant it should
reflect only pleasant things. This, let it be understood, applies only
to the speaking voice. I am not giving in this article a singing lesson.
Anger, suspicion, jealousy, covetousness, if they be felt, must
be imprisoned in the spirit. As disfiguring to voice as face are
these which have been called “the dark emotions.” If they cannot be
eliminated from the soul they must be driven out of the voice. The
dark emotions make the voice harsh. The silly emotions make it shrill.
Mental and character poise are the father and mother of the beautiful
speaking voice.
Coryza (cold in the head) is a menace to the voice. Hoarseness hides
the beauties of a voice as a thick veil the face of a woman. Colds
should be avoided. Or having been contracted, they should as quickly as
possible be cured.
Many women of full habit who, as they say, “feel a cold coming on,”
go immediately to the Turkish baths, and by drastic treatment rid
themselves quickly of it. This, if followed by great care to prevent
catching a fresh cold immediately after the bath, is a good remedy. So,
too, is the ancient one of retiring early and with many blankets added
to the usual amount of bed clothing to coax a heavy perspiration. This
can be greatly aided by the other old-fashioned remedy of a glass of
hot lemonade. A moderate dose of quinine is also effective in “breaking
up a cold.”
The roots of the disease having thus been plucked up, the accompanying
ugliness caused by rheumy eyes, swollen, scarlet nose and “running”
nostrils, can be gradually cured by inhalations and gargles.
A yeoman remedy is the sniffing into the nostrils of quite strong salt
water. Another that is excellent is the sniffing of pulverized camphor.
A third is a nasal sweeping by the inhalation of ammonia.
Strong aromatic vinegars serve the same purpose. This is a valuable
one, agreeable and less expensive than the elaborate one used by the
beauties of the French court:
Glacial acetic acid, 1¼ ounces; rose water, 2½ ounces; lavender water,
1 pint.
This is powerful as well as pleasing and will reward the user for the
pains of mixing the many ingredients:
Glacial acetic acid, ½ pound; rectified spirits of wine, 1 ounce; oil
of neroli, ¼ dram; oil of allspice, ¼ dram; oil of lavender, ¼ dram;
pure oil of cinnamon, ¼ dram; oil of bergamot, ¼ dram; oil of rosemary,
½ dram; oil of cloves, ¾ dram; pulverized camphor, 1¼ ounces. This is
very strong and age makes it stronger. It is most advantageously used
by pouring a few drops of it upon a silk sponge and inhaling. Avoid its
contact with skin and clothes.
A third tonic vinegar useful for inhalation is this:
White vinegar, 1 pint; extract of lavender, 15 grams; oil of bergamot,
6 grams; oil of citron, 5 grams; tincture of benzoin, 6 grams.
Sage tea in which a small quantity of eucalyptus has been distilled is
excellent for cleansing the nasal cavities after a cold.
Beauties of many courts and times have removed the husky quality from
their voices by inhaling the vapor from a concoction of:
Sweet milk, 1 pint; ripe figs, ½ dozen. These should be boiled to a
pulp and inhaled while hot. The mixture can be heated again and again
and the vapor from it inhaled, until the cure is effected.
I am glad to see that fig and apricot paste has been imported from
the Orient, for Persian women have successfully used this jam-like
confection and medicine for many generations for the cure of hoarseness.
Weak elderflower tea is an admirable remedy. An infusion of chickweed
is also recommended. These latter should be inhaled. The fig and
apricot paste is, of course, for internal use.
Mme. Pompadour, the famous French beauty, used to clear her voice of
huskiness by inhaling the fumes of:
Pulverized myrrh, 1 ounce; amber, 50 grains.
A husky voice indicates that the throat is dry. Our ancestresses knew
this and made their children drink much sweet milk or buttermilk to
remove hoarseness. The poor singer seeking relief from that distress by
sucking a lemon has been a subject for caricaturists for twenty years.
But the ludicrous practice has a basis in common sense. A lemon is a
broom for the throat. A raw egg beaten with the lemon juice serves that
purpose and is soothing to the burning throat.
While I was singing in Philadelphia I acquired a bad cold. One of the
old families who had always extended me the courtesy of their home and
friendship offered me a cough syrup they called “Stewed Quaker.” It was
so quickly efficacious that I asked for the formula. Here it is:
New Orleans molasses, ½ pint; butter, 1 tablespoonful; white sugar, 1
teaspoonful; vinegar, 1 tablespoonful.
Cold compresses often cure a sore throat over night. Into ice cold
water dip a fold of cotton cloth. Wring it out only dry enough to
prevent its dripping. Pin this tightly around the throat with safety
pins, and over the compress pin a fold of flannel. Soon the heat from
the neck causes vapor and “loosens the cold.” In the morning remove the
compress and massage the neck with olive oil.
If you value your voice try to avoid that protracted unpleasantness
which is known as a summer cold.
To best understand how to prevent a cold, let us perfectly understand
its causes. I say causes, not cause for an authority on the subject
has recently said that there are four conditions that bring about the
annoying and dangerous condition we call “a cold.”
There must be lowered vitality. In other words, a person may be in that
state we describe as “run down.” When we are run down or “seedy,” as
they say in England, our resistance is lessened; we are like a besieged
town whose walls are falling. In this unprotected state we have little
chance against a cold.
A similar condition is fatigue. We are more prone to catch cold when we
are tired, because the good white corpuscles in the blood, the body’s
defenders, are lessened by weariness. Also fatigue creates an excess of
certain gases in the body, carbonic acid gas among others, and these
self-poisons weaken the body and open the doors to cold.
Now, how to prevent a cold. Keep your liver active. If it becomes
lazy take plenty of exercise to stir it into activity. If the liver
is torpid, the poison it should take care of is cast upon the mucous
membrane, irritating it and causing catarrh.
Be sure that your digestion is the best and that the intestinal tract
is kept clear. Unless you do this there may be an irritation of the
lining of the intestines that will cause all of the alimentary tract to
become catarrhal. This, in turn, will extend to the nose and throat.
To avoid indigestion, be careful that you eat only nourishing foods.
Tuberculosis is more common in the poorer quarters of every city,
especially of London, and physicians have concluded that this is not
because they do not have enough to eat, but because they eat too many
starchy foods, as pastry and potatoes, and too many sweets, as candy.
Prevent a cold by activity. Why do you catch a cold when you lie down
without any covering except the garments you are wearing? Because when
you are inactive your body is relaxed and the temperature is lowered.
Exercise much, keep the blood flowing briskly, and you will generally
avoid colds.
But be not satisfied with avoiding stagnant blood. Avoid stagnant air.
Keep the air circulating in the room you occupy. Try to keep a stream
of fresh air flowing through your room. At any rate, keep the window
open two or three inches at the top, no matter what the weather.
Cold plunge or shower or sponge baths harden the skin and help to
make one immune from colds, but before beginning to take them ask a
physician’s advice. You may not have enough vitality to endure the
ordeal. If you have your physician’s “O. K.,” the best time to begin is
in the summer.
Avoid coughing when you can, for coughing is sometimes merely a nervous
habit. Besides, a cough irritates the lining of the throat.
The old-fashioned remedy for a cold, of swallowing a mixture of equal
parts of vinegar and molasses, is as good now as it was when our
grandmothers dosed us plentifully and effectually for hoarseness.
A pleasanter and perhaps more refined remedy is the plentiful use
of honey. Use it freely on bread or with rice at table and swallow
a tablespoonful of it whenever between meals you feel the tickling
sensation that precedes coughing.
Gargling with strong salt water often clears the throat, saving fits of
violent coughing.
A good method, and a simple one, of relief from violent coughing is to
place upon the chest hot cloths, followed by cold ones, then hot, then
cold, so alternating many times. This reëstablishes natural circulation
and restored circulation means relief from cold.