not greatly in favor of the nest being rifled and its contents devoured, - by owls, skunks, minks, and coons at night, and by crows, jays, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and rats during the day. Infancy, we say, is hedged about by many perils; but the infancy of birds is cradled and pillowed in peril.- JOHN BURROUGHS, "Signs and Seasons."

595. In the following selection, point out instances of repetitions of words and of thought.

The Life of Johnson is assuredly a great, a very great work. Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse1 is first, and the rest nowhere. MACAULAY, “Essay on Johnson."

EXPOSITION BY COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

596. Write a theme of at least three or four paragraphs, beginning with the topic sentence of the following selection. Use as much of this material as you please.

We have become a spendthrift race. Extravagance is the order of the day. James J. Hill told us the other morning that our trouble is not the high cost of living, but the cost of high living — privately and publicly the wild waste of natural resources. Four generations ago our forefathers had to their west a vast untouched continent, rich in timber, ores, and soil fertility beyond anything the white man had ever found. The entire population of the country, scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, was limited to a couple of million people. These vast natural resources were successfully exploited, our wealth increased as if by magic, and to-day our population of ninety millions has occupied the whole continent from ocean to ocean, but not without leaving its mark upon the land. Our forests, laid low by giant mills, are more than half cut. Our streams and lakes have been looted of their fish

by water wheels and steam-drawn seines. Our mines of ores and coal Eclipse was a famous English race horse.

1

are beginning to show signs of depletion. Our soil, with impaired fertility, now yields eighteen and twenty bushels in place of the forty of the virgin prairies. At the end of it all we are beginning to see that our national wealth is not all the product of wise and intelligent labor. Largely, we have done no more than transmute, and often recklessly, our natural resources into the uses, ornaments, extravagances of our civilization: foodstuffs, houses, clothes, railroads, palaces, monuments, elegances of living, lavish show of gold and silver.— EDWARD A. RUMELY, "Our Public Schools as Preparatory for Practical Life."

597. After studying the sketch of the train dispatcher on page 196, write a comparison of two persons whom you know well, or of whom you have read widely.

598. Point out significant traits in two characters in literature who are strikingly different from each other - for example; Hepzibah and Phoebe in "The House of the Seven Gables." Show that you know them as well as persons with whom you are well acquainted.

599. Be prepared to talk for one minute on one of these subjects: (1) A Home (compare a house); (2) A Village (compare a city).

600. Write a long theme on one of the following subjects: (1) The Schools of To-day (compared with those of a generation ago); (2) The "New" Football; (3) Dickens, the novelist (compared with Scott or some other writer).

EXPOSITION BY CAUSE AND EFFECT

601. The following paragraph is an example of development by cause and effect. Using the same material, rewrite the paragraph to bring out more clearly the relation of cause to effect.

The mammy was the zealous, faithful, and efficient assistant of the mistress in all that pertained to the training of the children. Her authority was recognized in all that related to them directly or indi

rectly, second only to that of the mistress and master. She regulated them, disciplined them, having authority indeed in cases to administer correction. Her régime extended frequently through two generations, occasionally through three. From their infancy she was the careful and faithful nurse, the affection between her and the children she nursed being often more marked than that between her and her own children. She may have been harsh to the latter; she was never anything but tender with the others. Her authority was, in a measure, recognized through life, for her devotion was unquestionable. The young masters and mistresses were her "children" long after they had children of their own. They embraced her, when they parted from her or met with her again after separation, with the same affection as when in childhood she "led them smiling into sleep." She was worthy of the affection. At all times she was their faithful ally, shielding them, excusing them, petting them, aiding them, yet holding them up to a certain high accountability. Her influence was always for good. She received, as she gave, an unqualified affection; if she was a slave, she at least was not a servant, but was an honored member of the family, universally beloved, universally cared for "the Mammy."

- THOMAS NELSON PAGE, "The Old South."

602. Tell in one minute (1) why you would like to go to a higher institution of learning than the school you now attend; (2) under what circumstances you would be satisfied with the equivalent of a high-school education.

174. Directions for writing Exposition. In general, the most important aids in securing clear and forcible exposition are:

1. Unity.

2. Coherence, or logical arrangement.

3. Emphasis through proportion.

4. Illustration by examples or by comparison.

603. Write on one of the following subjects:

1. A Ballad. Public Libraries.

2. A Touchdown. 3. A Hazard (golf). 4. Uses of 5. Reforms suggested in "Oliver Twist." 6. A

Summer Sport in the Country. 7. A Winter Amusement in Cities. 8. The Industry of Walter Scott. 9. The Humble Origin of Great Men. 10. Nelson's Courage. II. The Care of Potted Plants in Winter. 12. How to raise Celery. 13. Setting the Table for Dinner. 14. How to tell a Fir Tree from a Spruce. 15. How to make a Kite. 16. The Making of Turpentine. 17. The Making of Cider. 18. Handball. 19. A Sun Dial. 20. A Simple Steam En22. The Force Pump. 23. How to row a Boat. 24. How to keep a Lawn. 25. The Air Brake. 26. How to make a Pair of Skees.

gine. 21. Ice Cutting.

604. (1) Choose from the subjects just given that one which appeals to you as the best for an essay of some six hundred words. (2) In preparing a plan, consider (a) unity, (b) arrangement, (c) emphasis through proportion, (d) the advantage of illustration by examples or by comparison. (3) Write the essay.

605. Explain orally your methods of writing. In doing so, answer the following questions:

1. Do you write rapidly?

2. Do you alter the first draft much?

3. Do you find composition hard? Under what conditions is it most difficult? least difficult?

4. To what extent have you found outlines, or plans, useful?

5. Do you keep an audience or a reader in mind as you write? 6. Do you read your work aloud slowly, sentence by sentence? If so, has this method helped you in revising the sentences, the spelling, or the punctuation?

606. In a similar way, tell the class about your reading habits. First prepare a plan. In addition to the topics that will be suggested by the above questions, consider the use of the dictionary and other helps.

607. Assuming that you must decide what occupation you will enter when you leave school, investigate some one kind of work and make it the subject of a theme. Show that you have the necessary qualifications for this particular occupation.

175. Special Forms of Exposition.

Among the many

forms of exposition the following are of special interest: (1) abstracts (a) book reviews, (b) notes; (2) newspaper editorials; (3) character sketches; (4) letters.

176. The Abstract. An abstract is somewhat more than an outline, but less than a pure exposition. According to its subject matter, it is variously called an epitome, a résumé, a summary, a review. It must contain in some form what is vital in the original. The statements must be so grouped that the finished product is not a series of sentences merely, but a literary composition, however short, which will stand all the tests for a good exposition.

EXERCISES

608. The following abstract of the drama from which Shakespeare got much of his material for "The Merchant of Venice" is given by Hudson. Study this; then write an abstract of " The Merchant of Venice." Compare your work with that of Hudson.

Giannetto, the adopted son of a Venetian merchant, Ansaldo, gets permission to visit Alexandria. On his voyage he lands at Belmont, where he finds a lady of great wealth and beauty, and falls deeply in love with her. He returns to Venice, asks for a supply of money to enable him to prosecute his love suit, and Ansaldo borrows 10,000 ducats of a Jew on the condition that, if the money be not repaid by a certain day, Ansaldo shall forfeit a pound of his flesh, to be cut off by the Jew. Giannetto gains the lady in marriage; but, forgetful of the bond, prolongs his stay at Belmont till the day of payment is past. Hastening to Venice, he finds the Jew rigid in exacting the penalty, and not to be turned from it even by ten times the amount of the loan. The bride, knowing the merchant's position, disguises herself as a doctor of law, repairs to Venice, and gets herself introduced as a judge into the court where the case is on trial; for in Italy, at that time, nice and difficult points of law were determined, not by the ordinary judges, but by doctors of law from Padua, Bologna, and other famous law schools.