THE BOY TO THE SCHOOLMASTER

341

cousin for a new rifle such as you have been wanting for a year. Show your appreciation and hearty thanks.

Write a note to the principal of a preparatory school or the president of a college asking for a catalogue.

Ex. II. Write a letter ordering at least ten different articles from a grocery store. Be sure that you mention real prices and order real articles. Ask that the articles be sent to your home C. O. D. (that is, "collect on delivery," meaning that you will pay for the articles when they are left at your house).

From a real catalogue order at least ten articles from a great department store. (Your teacher will have several catalogues at her desk.) Inclose money order for the amount of your purchase. Ask that the articles be sent by the express company that has an office near your home. Do not urge the house to give the order their immediate and careful attention; that should be their custom.

One article received among goods ordered as above was very much soiled. In a letter state the exact trouble and ask what action you shall take, assuming that of course they will make the matter right.

Ex. III. Write an advertisement to rent the house you live in; an advertisement to sell your bicycle, used for one year; to sell a horse and carriage; to buy a second-hand typewriter; a second-hand upright piano; a lot at least 50 by 150 feet in the residence district; a farm of at least 100 acres within three miles of town.

97. THE BOY TO THE SCHOOLMASTER.

"You've quizzed me often and puzzled me long,
You've asked me to cipher and spell,

You've called me a dunce if I answered wrong,
Or a dolt if I failed to tell

Just when to say lie and when to say lay,
Or what nine-sevenths may make,

Or the longitude of Kamchatka Bay,

Or the I-forget-what's-its-name lake.
So I think it's about my turn, I do,

To ask a question or so of you."

The schoolmaster grim he opened his eyes,
But said not a word for sheer surprise.

"Can you tell where the nest of the oriole swings,
Or the color its egg may be?

Do you know the time when the squirrel brings
Its young from the nest in the tree?

Can you tell when the chestnuts are ready to drop,
Or where the best hazelnuts grow?

Can you climb a high tree to the very tiptop,

Then gaze without trembling below?

Can you swim and dive, can you jump and run,
Or do anything else we boys call fun?

The master's voice trembled as he replied,

"You are right, my lad; I'm the dunce," he sighed.1

Ex. I. Why did the schoolmaster open his eyes? Why was he silent? Why did his voice tremble? Why did he sigh? Where has the boy lived who asks these questions?

Ex. II. Write a paragraph telling whether you like or dislike these stanzas, and giving your reasons.

Write two or three paragraphs telling of the things you know which you have not learned at school. Think carefully about this, determine upon as many as possible, and tell of the value they are to you.

Ex. III. Write two or three paragraphs telling of the things you have learned at school, and of the value they have been to you. Be as definite as possible.

Write two or three paragraphs of the things you have learned from this book during the time you have been studying it, and tell of some occasions when the information has been of use to you. Make no general statements. Be particular.

1 Used by permission of the author.

98. PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.

marking of compositions.

TO THE TEACHER. The following summary, which includes only principles that should be emphasized in grammar-school work, is intended to be used for the On the margin opposite an error is placed the number of the principle violated. After reading the principle and with the aid of the index looking up the Composition and Grammar references, the pupil must discover the error he has made at the point indicated, and must correct it, preferably with a pencil or ink of a color different from that with which the composition is written.

Much of this work should be done with compositions copied on the blackboard, each pupil in the class being required to correct every error indicated. As often as time permits, all compositions written for a given exercise should be marked by the teacher, returned to the pupils for correction, and examined a second time to see that the corrections are properly made. The teacher should regularly mark and return at least four or five papers taken from each set written, as pupils are more careful when they know that their papers may be examined.

A few numbers are added in blank, that teachers may include any other principles that they wish to emphasize.

The following paragraph shows concretely the method suggested:

5d

9h-5a

36-4

As I was coming through the allegheny parks one day i noticed a large, "Newfoundland" dog standing 5g-8-3a near a pump looking longingly at it. a little girl with some Books under hir arm stopped beside the dog and pumped him a cool drink of water When the dog had had enough he licked her hand and looking up into her face he seemed to try his best thank her after patting his head for a moment she went in her way.

20a -ba

of

9f-25-6a-5a

15

As an introductory exercise, children may be asked to correct the errors indicated in the above paragraph. Most of these principles may be used from the beginning, even before they have been formally studied in either the Grammar or the Composition.

RULES OF COMPOSITION.

1. Write your name at the top of the first page of each written lesson, preferably to the right.

2. (a) About two inches from the top of the first page write a title. (b) Begin its important words with capitals. (c) Under

score it with three lines. (d) Leave an even margin of half an inch or more at each side of written work. (e) Begin the first line of each paragraph about half an inch from the margin.

3. Avoid unnecessary (a) punctuation marks, including quotation marks and the apostrophe, (b) capital letters, and (c) italics. 4. Spell correctly.

5. Begin with a capital letter (a) every sentence; (b) every formal quotation; (c)1 every name of the Deity, but not pronouns referring to these names; (d)1 every proper name and proper adjective; (e) the principal words in titles of office or respect, in titles of books and poems, in headings of chapters, in names of firms, etc.; (f) the first word of each line of poetry; (g) I and O, but not oh.

6. Use a period (.) (a) at the end of a declarative or imperative sentence; (b) after an abbreviation; (c) after yes and no when used alone; (d) after initials.

7. (a) Use an interrogation point (?) after direct questions. (b) Use an exclamation point (!) after exclamatory sentences and expressions.

8. Never use a comma unless its presence will add to clearness.

9. Use a comma (,) (a) to set off words of address; (b) before a direct quotation and to set off words that divide a quotation; (c) after oh, and usually after yes and no when not used alone; (d) after each word or expression in a series except the last; (e) to separate two complete statements united by and, but, and similar connectives; (f) to set off parenthetical expressions and non-restrictive appositives; (g) to set off non-restrictive expressions beginning with who and which; (h) to set off independent participial elements; (i) wherever its presence, by appealing to the eye, will add to clearness.

10. Inclose in quotation marks ("") (a) the exact words of another included within your own writing; (b) the names of books, of poems, of papers and magazines, and of vessels. (c) Inclose in single quotation marks (' ') a quotation within a quotation.

11. Use the apostrophe (') (a) with s ('s) when writing the possessive form of the noun, except when the noun is plural and ends in s; (b) at the end of nouns in the plural ending in s when writing the possessive form; (c) to show the omission of a letter or of letters belonging to a word. (d) Do not use the apostrophe with ours, yours, hers, its, and theirs.

1 When a name of the Deity or a proper name consists of several words, begin each important word with a capital; as, Son of wean, Gulf of Mexico, Abraham Lincoln.

12. Use a hyphen (-) (a) at the end of a line, after a syllable, when part of the word must be written on the next line; (b) between the parts of compound words when the parts have not become united into a single word.

13. Use short sentences.

single long one.

14. Use simple words.

Make two or three sentences out of a

15. Use words in their proper meaning. See p. 239 for oh; p. 147 for lie, lay, rise, raise, sit, and set; p. 184 for shall and will; p. 138 for who, which, and that.

16. Avoid slang.

17. Avoid abbreviations, contractions, and corrupt forms of words (p. 229).

18. Be sure that a verb agrees with its subject.

19. (a) Do not use the past participle instead of the past tense, or vice versa. (b) Use verbs in the proper tense. (c) Use the subjunctive form of the verb to express conditions contrary to fact.

20. (a) Place adjectives where they must modify the word desired. (b) Use a and an correctly. (c) Use than after an adjective in the comparative degree. (d) Use other to exclude the thing being compared.

21. Place adverbs near the words they modify.

22. Do not use adjectives for adverbs or adverbs for adjectives. 23. Use pronouns according to the rules of grammar.

24. (a) Punctuate and capitalize as shown in the perfect letter form, p. 245. (b) Use only a colon (:) after the salutation when the body of the letter begins on the following line; when it begins on the same line use the colon and the dash (:-). (c) Do not omit any parts of the letter form.

25. Do not omit necessary words.

26. Omit unnecessary words.

27. (a) A paragraph should deal with one definite part of a subject. (b) A sentence should include only closely related thoughts. See pp. 87 and 279–281.

28. Make your sentences express exactly your meaning.