THE ART LEAGUE OF THE SOUTH. HE second and most recent exhibition of pictures was THE held under in Henderson, Ky., in May. This exhibition was most successfully conducted by Miss Ingram, the President of the League. A Loan Collection of pictures by Jouett, Stacy, Marks, and W. L. Wyllie, R. A., and etchings by Whistler and Sir Seymour Haden shared the interest taken in the pictures competing for prizes. Medals were awarded for oil painting to Mrs. Kate Swope, "Madonna" and "Childhood," and to Miss Patty Thum, "Pink Roses;" for water-colors to Mr. Robert Burns Wilson and to Mrs. C. B. Coman. E. A. ANDERSON, Sec. & Treas. ADDRESS AT THE CLOSING RECITAL OF THE SUMMER SCHOOL BY REV. S. L. LOOMIS, A. M., OF NEWARK, N. J. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: In view of the heat and the lateness of the hour, I shall chiefly endeavor to illustrate a quality of public speaking which is certain to be appreciated, and which is said to be the soul of wit. But if the evening were milder, and there were ampler time, I should be glad to say something to you, out of my heart, regarding the purpose and value of such work as that which has engaged us here; for it is a pursuit of which many are accustomed to think, if not contemptuously, at least with little appreciation. Now, if elocution were merely a business of entertaining people by tricks of speech, the mimicry of grotesque manners and the imitation of birds and babies and sundry queer noises, as indeed one might judge it to be from the performances of certain so-called elocutionists, then one would certainly do well to consider whether it were worth his while to spend much effort in acquiring its accomplishments. But we have no such notion of elocution here. The art at which we aim, for it is in the truest, loftiest sense an art, is that of giving fit and adequate expression by voice, by atti tude and bearing, to human thought and emotion. This is no mean business. We Americans have received by inheritance from our fathers, the title-deed running through Plymouth Rock, the noblest literature that the world has ever known. Gifted fellow-countrymen have added to the priceless heritage many rich and memorable pages. When one seeks to give, in reading and recitation, a true and luminous interpretation to these great thoughts, in all the fulness of passion with which they throb and glow, it is surely a worthy ambition. Many of us are teachers, teachers of the English language and literature. Tell me, how can you make a pupil love an essay or poem unless you know how to read it to him? Some of us here are lawyers. We feel that we are more likely to reach both the understanding and the heart of a jury if we know how to approach them with sweet, distinct, subtle and forceful speech. And others of our number are called upon to plead before greater juries a vaster cause with more momentous issues. If any living man has a right to summon to his aid all the skill and force that training can give, it is the preacher of the Gospel of everlasting life. I have therefore no words of apology, either for myself or my fellow-students, in that we have given our midsummer weeks to these pursuits, but rather in their behalf and by their direction I beg to read the following testimonial: The tenth Summer Session of the School of Expression (with headquarters at Boston) has been held at the High School Building in Plymouth, Mass., from July 8th to August 12th, 1896. In view of the unique historic interest of the old town, its rare natural beauty, and the fitness of the admirable building in which the School convened, a better meeting-place could scarcely have been chosen. The students have come from most diverse and different sections. Seventeen States of the Union are represented among them. They are, almost without exception, graduates of colleges and other higher institutions of learning, and they include in their number teachers, professors, lawyers, business men, and both Catholic and Protestant clergymen. Remarkable congeniality has been noted in the social affiliations of the students, and several pleasant excursions have been enjoyed. Dr. S. S. Curry, Dean of the School, and his gifted wife, whose services have been not less appreciated than his own, have given the main part of the class-room instruction, in addition to which they have generously afforded to individual students much private attention, showing, in the most cordial manner, their sincere and earnest desire for the profit of each one. They have also been ably assisted by Miss Lucy H. Putnam and Mr. Charles H. Patterson, A.M. As a result of five weeks' experience in this School, every student has become an enthusiastic advocate of Dr. Curry's methods and principles. The School has given us clear, sound, and helpful instruction in the training of the voice, and the bearing, and action, and attitude posture which belong to public speaking. It has given us a deepened sense of the dignity and value of the art of vocal expression. It has set before us with distinctness and emphasis the principles which underlie and govern that great art, and has illustrated those principles most fully, variously, and carefully. It has diligently warned us against all that is artificial, declamatory, and meretricious, and has impelled us to seek for every thought and emotion nothing else than its simple, natural, and truthful expression. Our individual errors and weaknesses have been skilfully pointed out and their remedy suggested; at the same time nothing has been done to check or repress, but everything to develop, individuality. The method of teaching has been by principle rather than by note, a method which we have found exceedingly stimulating and helpful. We have, with all other advantages, received a fresh impression of the beauty and power of that great literature which is our heritage. This testimonial has been prepared by a Committee appointed from their own number by the students of the Summer School of Expression at Plymouth, and is heartily and unanimously approved by them, as a token of their sincere and grateful appreciation of Dr. Curry and his associates, and as public evidence of their confidence in this method and department of culture. We have profound convictions of the value and importance of such work as this, and we believe that Dr. Curry has a high mission in the prosecution of his calling as a teacher of the great art of Expression. And we hereby earnestly commend to the attention of all who have an interest in such matters his lucid and valuable writings on this subject.1 1 The publications commended are the following: — The Province of Expression. Classics for Vocal Expression. Lessons in Vocal Expression. Course I. Imagination and Dramatic Instinct. Vocal Expression, Course II. ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR 1896-97. `HE eighteenth year of the School of Expression will open THE at the rooms of the School, 458 Boylston Street, corner of Berkeley, Boston, Wednesday, October 7, 1896. Registration, 9-11 A. M. Opening Addresses, 11 A. M. inations, Tuesday, October 6, 9-4 P. M. Entrance Exam Registration for Saturday Classes, Saturday, October 2, 10-12 A. M. All students, regular or special, who apply before the opening of School will receive an oral examination by the teachers. Applicants are requested to come prepared to render selections of different kinds. One of the teachers can be found at the School from 9 to 1, and from 3 to 6 daily, after September 1. At 8 P. M., Opening Day, October 7, Mr. Leland T. Powers will give the first of a series of Artistic Impersonations for the endowment of an Alumni Professorship in the School of Expression. At the close of the reading, Mr. Powers will receive a Diploma for Artistic Attainment from the authorities of the School. Every effort will be made the present year to maintain the high standard of the School, and to make still further advances. The long years of experience, the high aims to meet the needs of students, the earnest study and the wide range of investigation, with the continual re-arrangement of every method and course, has enabled the School to do better work each succeeding year. The methods have been made more and more thorough and systematic. The classes have been kept small, the instruction made more and more definite; a greater amount of individual assistance given to each student. Each student's investigation, use of the Library, and Studies in Literature have received more attention. Greater opportunities have been ar ranged for students for artistic work and rendering of every form of literature. These are some of the improvements that have been introduced. During the first term of the coming year, each student will receive personal assistance in addition to his class work. The courses in Literature have been more thoroughly systematized, and consist of the history and elements of literature by a prominent specialist, and in connection with this, courses of conversations upon the arguments of the poems studied will be given, also courses in the Vocal Interpretation of Literature and in written themes on subjects connected with Literature. Great efforts have been made to secure unity and co-ordination among the various courses. For the first time, oral and written examinations will be held for admission, that the attainments and needs of students may be thoroughly known before their courses are selected. Four groups of courses requiring over fifteen hours a week of work have been arranged. Terms for each group, $140. Students can elect additional hours from other groups at $10 each hour a week for the year; or six hours for $50, which will be all that any one will be allowed to take. Students who wish to take the work as electives will be charged $15 each hour a week for the year. Five Diplomas are arranged: first, the Regular Diploma, which will require the mastery of the first and the second year groups or their equivalent, and groups of courses for Speakers, for Teachers, for Public Readers, and in Literature. A group of courses is also arranged for graduates of other Schools of Oratory. At the request of the teachers of the Boston College of Oratory, that Institution was absorbed by the School of Expression in 1895. The teachers of the Boston College of Oratory selected the School of Expression as the one to which they could most conscientiously recommend their students, to continue their work. The School of Expression will not allow this confidence to be misplaced, and the friends and students of that institution |