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immediate expression of thought and feeling in the spoken word. The character of all speech, whether oral or written, should be determined by its fitness for subject, speaker, occasion, and hearer, and certainly these will differ in oral and written discourse.

9. The Habit of Correct Speech. We should be very careful to cultivate the habit of correct speech in our ordinary conversation; because, if we are careful to speak correctly, we shall soon acquire the habit of writing correctly. Slovenly speech, like a slovenly habit, savors of vulgarity and low associations; but it has another effect, it begets slovenly writing. The boy who carelessly says in school, "I ain't got no book," or "I can't do them examples," will find it difficult to preserve care in writing. In general, language once within our control can be employed for oral or written discourse. As we talk much more than we write, the opportunities for oral practice greatly outnumber those for written; consequently our oral practice plays an important part in the development of literary power. It is of the greatest importance, then, that every teacher should insist on the pupils' cultivating correct speech in the every-day talk of the class-room.

EXERCISES.

Let each answer consist of at least one complete sentence. See that your manuscript is neat, your handwriting legible, and your spelling correct.

1. What are some of the difficulties you have found in expressing your thoughts? Recall and write out some explanation which you have recently found difficult in the class-room. Why should you regard composition as a pleasure?

2. How do you think rhetoric will help you? you understand the function of rhetoric to be? brief distinction between an art and a science. rhetoric as an art with music or painting. chemistry is. a science.

mar.

What do Write a Compare Tell why

3. Write a brief distinction between rhetoric and gramTo what extent should you obey the principles of rhetoric? What do you understand by "good usage "? Why is it important to think before you write? you acquire the habit of correct speech?

How can

4. Give an account of what you saw while on your way to school this morning. Write the conversation, real or imaginary, that you had with your friend while on the way to school. Give the conversation during some interesting hour of the school session. Give an account of your last bicycle ride. Tell what you think of your different

studies.

5. Say which of the following paragraphs have the form of oral or written discourse, and rewrite each in the other form. Give your reasons for thinking that each is written or oral in form, and show what you have changed to give it a new character.

Hello, John! Jump aboard. balance then.

Going to school? Let's take this car. There's a vacant seat. I nearly lost my What's the matter now? Oh! it's a wagon stuck on the track. Hope it won't delay us long. Let's walk the rest of the way. Don't go so fast! I can't breathe! There's the bell ringing now! Hurry up!

Yet, too, he struggled. He realized at moments what he was doing, and his cheek grew pale at the idea that he was juggling with his conscience and soul. He tried to attend to the talk, and could only succeed in listening for

the sound of her voice. He kept no more hold on the conversation than was sufficient to allow him to put in a’ word now and then to cover his preoccupation. He feigned to be interested, to be as usual; but all his blood was trembling and tumbling with this new delirium, and all struggles to forget his passion only increased its intensity. ARLO BATES: The Puritan

Oh! we got there all right. Of course we were covered with mud. John doesn't know how to carry an umbrella. The water trickled down my back. I got into a mud puddle, and the water came over my shoes. Jennie fell once, too; look at that mud on her arm! John's a miserable failure as an escort.

6. Re-write the following selections throughout, changing each direct quotation to the indirect form.

Barret pressed his lips together, and shook his head. "You can't send him away like that," he said; he is a very important young man.”

"Find out how much he will take, then," exclaimed the king angrily, "and give it to him. I can better afford to pay blackmail to any amount than have my plans spoiled now by the newspapers. Give him what he wants—a fur coat they always wear fur coats or five thousand francs, or something — anything, but get rid of him."

Barret stirred uneasily in his chair, and shrugged his shoulders. "He is not a boulevard journalist,” he replied sulkily.

"Your majesty is thinking of Hungarian Jews at Vienna," explained Kalanay, "who live on chantage and the Monte Carlo propaganda fund. This man is not in their class; he is not to be bought. American."

I said he was an

1 Permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.

"An American!" exclaimed Mrs. Carson and her daughter, exchanging rapid glances. "Is it Archie Gordon you mean?" the girl asked. "I thought he was in China."

"That is the man Archie Gordon. He writes books, and explores places," Kalanay answered.

"I know him. He wrote a book on the slave-trade in the Congo," contributed Colonel Erhaupt. "I met him at Zanzibar. What does he want with us?"

"He was in Yokohama when the Japanese-Chinese war broke out," said Kalanay, turning to the king; "and he cabled a London paper he would follow the war for it if they paid him a hundred a week. He meant American dollars; but they thought he meant pounds, so they cabled back that they would pay one-half the sum. He answered, 'One hundred or nothing'; and they finally assented to that, and he started; when the first week's remittance arrived, and he received five hundred dollars instead of the one hundred he expected, he sent back the difference."

"What a remarkable young man!" exclaimed the king. "He is much too good for daily wear. We don't want

anyone like that around here, do we?"

RICHARD HARDING DAVIS; The King's Jackal

1 Permission of Charles Scribner's Sons, publishers.

PART I.

COMPOSITION.

CHAPTER I.

THE THEME.

10. Preparatory Themes.

At this stage of our study of the art of writing we shall not be able to write very acceptably, perhaps, but it is important for us to begin. the work of writing at once. In these preparatory themes, as we shall call them, we should not strive for effect, or try to be pretentious or elaborate. If we observe closely the events of the day we shall find much that may be of interest, not only to ourselves, but to others, the ball-game, the bicycle-ride, an occurrence on the street, or our studies. These will furnish material for short themes; and in them we should now try merely to be natural, and to write directly and simply. We will first get into the writing habit, and when we have come to feel at ease with a pen in the hand we may attempt writing that demands more of us. At the same time we can improve the opportunities to perfect ourselves in the minor matters which contribute so much

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