I requested her to speak in a natural way the sentence, "This is a very beautiful day." I asked her if she could hear a lot of escaping breath? She answered, "No." I then asked her to place one hand across the ribs and one across the chest and center her thoughts directly at these two points to see if she could ascertain what was taking place there, while once again in a natural speaking voice she repeated the sentence. She did so, and found she was =not= "out of breath," and that her chest did =not= collapse and she did not feel any discomfort. I then asked her to repeat the sentence on the medium tone "E" above middle "C," then on "F," then on "G," directing her each time to think she was merely =speaking= the sentence, and then for the first time in her life she was able to understand =control of breath=. During the next lesson we were able to begin "tone placing" without the least trouble in connecting the breath and tone. =Try it yourself.= All kinds of athletics, breathing lessons or exercises in moderation are beneficial, but they are not voice culture. As your breath plays a most important part in =tone placing=, the breath and tone should start together, hand in hand, from the very beginning. In the following chapter I shall give some practical exercises that will give the BREATH and =tone= a chance to become acquainted with each other. A FEW PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Stand erect, but not in a strained position. Place the palm of your hands over your ribs, pointing the fingers forward. (See Figure 1.) =Exhale= by blowing slowly through the closed lips, very much as though you were blowing on embers to make them burn. In doing this, you will find that your finger tips will almost meet in front. (See Figure 2.) Keep your hands in the same position and =inhale= through the nose. You will notice a large space in front between your hands. (See Figure 3.) Keeping your hands in the same position, repeat this exercise five times; then drop your arms to your sides, relax and rest a few moments, repeating this exercise several times until it comes easy. [Illustration: five images of the rib-cage doing breath exercises.] Go before an open window every morning, place your hands as in figure 4, inhale through the nose, (don't raise the shoulders) see that the expansion is as great under the left hand as under the right hand (as in figure 5) while holding the breath count 5 (aloud) then exhale while holding the hands in same position, repeat this exercise 5 times in succession. A positive cure for all forms of nervousness.] Be sure when =inhaling= you do not use enough muscular exertion to take enough breath to cause lifting of the shoulders, which is decidedly wrong.