5. Narrow five of the following subjects until you think they are suitable for school themes, and give an appropriate title to each. 1. The Mother Country. 2. Art. 3. Rivers. 4. The Spanish War. 5. Literature. 6. Magazines. 7. Watches. 8. Country Roads. 9. Heroes. 10. Sunrise. II. The Straits of Dover. 13. Electricity. 14. Arbitration. 15. Immigration. 17. Politics. 18. Municipal Government. 6. Look over the newspapers and magazines of the day, and select five titles which you think appropriate to the subjects under discussion. What have you to say on this point with regard to the following titles? to 5. Housing the Poor. 6. A Garden of Mercy. Experiments in securing model dwelling-houses for the poor of London. A plea for sending the poor from the crowded cities to the farmingdistricts, and for the establishment of training-colonies. "Land Experiments," says the author, "is a cold title. To me they (the training-colonies) appear as Gardens of Mercy, where the gardener longs to make as goodly a show of souls as of roses." 7. Forty Years of British Trade. A history of the develop 8. The Battle of the Centuries. 9. A Ten Years' War. 10. Poor People. II. We are too much Governed. ment of trade in Great Britain during the last forty years. A discussion whether the year 1900 belongs to the nineteenth or the twentieth century. An account of the battle with the slums in New York City. A novel, dealing with life in the tenement district in Chicago. This does not mean the slums. "I am asked," says the author, "to express my views of the tendency on the part of the Legislatures of the various States of the Union in the direction of multiplying legislation." 12. The Klondike Stampede. 13. "Never Say Die." 14. An Actor's Day off. 15. Chocorua. 16. A Large Bass. 17. A Steam Carriage. A history of the Klondike region, and a description of the rush of people to that locality during the gold fever of 1897-1898. A school-boy's account of the work and practice of the school boatcrew on the river. The experience of an actor who had stopped over a day at Niagara Falls. A description of Mt. Chocorua by a writer who spent one summer in that vicinity. A school-boy's account of a day's bass-fishing in Florida. A description of an automobile propelled by steam. 7. Suggest suitable titles for the following newspaper paragraphs. 1. The attorney-general for Kansas, on January 16, at Topeka, rendered an opinion to the state superintendent of public instruction, holding that when a public school has been suspended by order of the board of trustees, on account of the presence of a contagious disease in the community, teachers are entitled to full pay under their contracts during such suspension. 2. What sneaks and snobs we are getting to be! A Canadian railroad dignitary is written of by an American newspaper as "having once filled the position of an humble ticket agent." Mark the juxtaposition. The "humble " is attached to the man more than to the position. We never yet found that humility was required in that occupation. 3. The worst of the whole business is, not so much the harm that a single play can do, but the general degradation of public taste, if not of morals, by exaltations of brute reproductions of the indecent as "art." Between the representations of life and life itself there must always be a distinction. 4. For three consecutive Congressional elections the methods and practices of that district have been investigated by this House, and in both of the preceding instances this body has set its seal of condemnation upon the debauchery thereof. 5. The flour trust has collapsed, from the same cause that sent so many trusts down, over capitalization. As it was written in the Register many months ago, the people who will be hurt first and worst by the trusts will be those who put their money in them. 6. Mamma-Tommy, you must eat every bit of your soup. How many little boys would be thankful to have only half of that big bowlful set before them. Tommy-So would I. 7. The Dublin city council had an exciting session over a resolution to welcome Queen Victoria formally in her coming visit. It was carried by a narrow majority, and with groans from the spectators. 8. During the past week there have been increasing signs of a rising tide of war sentiments among the French people directed against England, and it is an open secret that the army and navy are being put on a war footing. 9. The British newspapers very generally applaud Salisbury's rejection of the peace proposal. 10. In both Senate and House bills have been introduced giving the senior major-general of the army, while commanding the army, the rank of lieutenant-general, together with the emoluments of that rank. Miles Standish 40-41 CHAPTER II. THE THEME (continued). 15. Material for the Theme. Before the work of composition is begun, material for the theme should be gathered and considered carefully. Every sentence should be planned with the thought of the conclusion for which the whole is written. A great genius may dash off his lines without premeditation, trusting to inspiration for the working out of a well-rounded design, but the majority of us cannot do this. of design is a very serious hindrance to the pleasure as well as to the comprehension of the reader. In general, lack We should get our material, and have it arranged in our minds, before we begin to write. But it is sometimes difficult to know where we shall get this material. We may have our subject, even our title, well in mind; but the next step is not always an easy one. Let us consider, then, whence our material is to come. The great source of material is our own experience and observation. Having chosen his subject, the pupil should keep his eyes open continually for hints and suggestions. He will be surprised to find how many things that he sees or hears or reads have a bearing on what he has been thinking about. If at frequent intervals he |