around for a moment, he took off his hat and made a low bow to the girls, first to the right, and then towards the left. . . We had never seen anybody bow to a room full of mill girls in that polite way, and some one of the family afterwards asked him why he did so.

He looked a little surprised at the question, but answered promptly and with dignity, "I always take off my hat to ladies.”

— Lucy Larcom in " A New England Girlhood."

Exercises.

Ex. I. Tell the class or a friend of an act performed by an aged person suggestive of his character. It may show a thoughtful and lovable nature, or one of a very different kind. Perhaps you can tell of several incidents suggesting different kinds of character.

Ex. II. Write an account of one of these incidents, using much the same language as that used when you told of it.

Write a letter to some aged relative or friend, telling of an incident suggesting the lovable nature of an old lady or gentleman. If possible tell of an incident that you have seen.

Ex. III. What mark of punctuation just precedes the quoted words of the grandfather in the above? What mark of punctuation precedes or follows the quoted words in the following sentences?

1. Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man."

2.

"Our antagonist is our helper," says Burke.

3. "There are more men ennobled by study," says Cicero, “than by nature."

How does the punctuation of the last sentence differ from the punctuation of the others? Notice the quotation marks.

From these illustrations we derive the following rule:

24. RULE FOR PUNCTUATION.

Set off a brief quotation from the rest of the sentence by a comma or by commas.

Exercise.

Make sentences using the following quotations. In each case put the words you add, first before and then after the quotation, and when possible put them within the quotation, as in the third illustrative sentence in Ex. III., p. 251.

1. They never fail who die in a great cause. — Byron. 2. Talkers are not good doers.

3. Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle. — Spurgeon.

4. Thought takes man out of servitude into freedom. 5. Time wasted is existence, used is life. -Young.

6. Lack of desire is the greatest riches.

- Seneca.

Emerson.

7. The only jewel that you can carry beyond the grave is wisdom. -Langford.

8. A man must either imitate the vicious or hate them.

-Montaigne.

TO THE TEACHER. Have several compositions read in class each day, asking pupils to tell what kind of person is suggested. In the manner already outlined (p. 243; see also p. 343), correct as many papers as possible. Often resort to blackboard corrections, requiring all pupils to write an improved form for each error pointed out.

I have a place that will suit you, I think. It can be bought at about the figure you name. Come and see it. I shan't crack it up, but want you to judge for yourself.

Respectfully yours,

John Jones.

Exercise.

What in this letter suggests the character of John Jones? What kind of man do you think he is? Why have you this idea? What sort of man will write the last sentence of the letter? Would you have liked him more or less if he had told of all the advantages and attractions of the farm he wishes to sell? If he had told of both its advantages and disadvantages? Does he suggest either? How?

Do you consider crack it up an expression that should be used by educated people? Give the reason for your answer. Note the use of the word place. Do not use it in this meaning. Say farm or home.

26. RULES FOR COMPOSITION.

From the above exercise we may draw the following rules:

Avoid the use of slang, both in conversation and in written work. Use a word only in the meaning in which it is used by the majority of educated writers and speakers.

Exercise.

Write a letter to William Finland, who lives in Sharon, Mercer County, Pa., telling him of a dog you have for sale. Try to impress him so favorably that he will wish to buy the dog. Will you suggest or declare its good points? Be careful to make the letter complete in form and perfect in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Write a letter to Margaret Manning, who lives in Brockwayville, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, telling of canary birds you have for sale.

Write a letter to some person you know, telling of something you really have for sale.

27. WORDS TO WATCH.

Affect means to act upon, to influence.
Effect means to bring about, to accomplish.

Insert the proper word:

The change was

Exercise.

after a long struggle. Did the failure your business? Will you be able to your purpose? his family! He undertook to a consolidation of all the glass manufactories.

How little did his death

28. THE STORY OF A TRIP.

Every boy and girl, after a trip to the woods, to a friend's, to grandmother's, or after any other pleasant outing, wishes, when again at home, to tell of the pleasures of the day. To give an outline of the trip is not enough. There is no interest in an account that simply amounts to "We started, we reached there, we stayed till dusk, and we came home." The details the little events that excited your delight, your fear, your merriment, that made the day pleasant or unpleasant - are the points that give interThe things you did, the sights you saw, the sounds you heard, tell of these and you put life into your story, you make it real. Contrasts, too, help to give interest: the gloom of the forest contrasted with the sunshine of the meadow; the despair of the person you met contrasted with your own feeling of delight; the hovel and the great farmhouse; the hot sunshine and the cool shade; your own warmth and the cool spring; the dusty road and the rippling stream. In telling such a story the various events should be given in their proper order.

est.

Exercise.

First orally, and then in writing, tell the story of a day's outing, trying to observe the suggestions given above.

29. THE FOREIGN GENTLEMAN.1

Read the following selection, watching carefully for every character suggestion:

66

"As I went down stairs soon after, I saw something I liked. The flights are very long in this tall house, and as I stood waiting at the head of the third for a little servant-girl to climb slowly up, I saw a gentleman come along behind her, take the heavy hod of coal out of her hand, carry it all the way up, put it down at the door near by, and walk away, saying, with a kind nod and a foreign accent,

666

"It goes better so.

weight.'

The little back is too young for such a

"Wasn't it good of him? I like such things, for, as father says, trifles show character.

- Adapted from Louisa M. Alcott in "Little Women."

Exercises.

Ex. I. What kind of person employs the little servant-girl, judging from the work the child must do? What of the character of the foreign gentleman? What feeling have you toward Jo, the young girl who tells of the incident and who is so pleased with it?

Ex. II. Notice that each of the paragraphs begins with quotation marks. The selection is from a letter written by Jo and quoted by Miss Alcott in her book. She, quoting it, puts it in quotation marks. As the letter consists of a number of paragraphs, she puts the quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, but at the end of only the last. Why, then, are there no quotation marks after the last paragraph quoted here?

Notice further that the second paragraph is within single quotation marks (''). When Jo wrote the letter what marks did she put around this paragraph? The rule is that a quotation within a quotation should be inclosed in single quotation marks.

1 This and later selections from Miss Alcott's "Little Women" are used by permission of Little, Brown and Company, Boston.