Chapter XI: Part 11

7. I like the lad who, when his father thought
To clip his morning nap by hackneyed praise
Of vagrant worm by early songster caught,
Cried, "Served him right! 'tis not at all surprising;
The worm was punished, sir, for early rising."--_Saxe_.

8. There were communities, scarce known by name
In these degenerate days, but once far-famed,
Where liberty and justice, hand in hand,
Ordered the common weal; where great men grew
Up to their natural eminence, and none
Saving the wise, just, eloquent, were great;
Where power was of God's gift to whom he gave
Supremacy of merit--the sole means
And broad highway to power, that ever then
Was meritoriously administered,
Whilst all its instruments, from first to last,
The tools of state for service high or low,
Were chosen for their aptness to those ends
Which virtue meditates.--_Henry Taylor_.

9. Stranger, these gloomy boughs
Had charms for him; and here he loved to sit,
His only visitant a straggling sheep,
The stone-chat, or the glancing sand-piper;
And on these barren rocks, with fern and heath
And juniper and thistle sprinkled o'er,
Fixing his downcast eye, he many an hour
A morbid pleasure nourished, tracing here
An emblem of his own unfruitful life;
And, lifting up his head, he then would gaze
On the more distant scene,--how lovely 't is
Thou seest,--and he would gaze till it became
Far lovelier, and his heart could not sustain
The beauty, still more beauteous.--_Wordsworth_.

10. But, when the next sun brake from underground,
Then, those two brethren slowly with bent brows
Accompanying, the sad chariot-bier
Past like a shadow thro' the field, that shone
Full-summer, to that stream whereon the barge,
Pall'd all its length in blackest samite, lay.
There sat the life-long creature of the house,
Loyal, the dumb old servitor, on deck,
Winking his eyes, and twisted all his face.
So those two brethren from the chariot took
And on the black decks laid her in her bed,
Set in her hand a lily, o'er her hung
The silken case with braided blazonings,
And kiss'd her quiet brows, and, saying to her,
"Sister, farewell forever," and again,
"Farewell, sweet sister," parted all in tears.--_Tennyson_

11. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 't is something, nothing;
'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.--_Shakespeare_.

12. When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent, which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he, returning, chide,--
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask: but Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
--_Milton_.--_Sonnet on his Blindness_.

13. Ah! on Thanksgiving Day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New-Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,--
What moistens the lip, and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin-pie?
--_Whittier_.

14. That orbed maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the moon,
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof,
The stars peep behind her and peer;
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee
Like a swarm of golden bees,
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till the calm rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high,
Are each paved with the moon and these.
--_Shelley.--The Cloud_.

15. Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close,
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose.
There, as I passed with careless steps and slow,
The mingling notes came softened from below;
The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung,
The sober herd that lowed to meet their young,
The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool,
The playful children just let loose from school,
The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind,--
These all in sweet confusion sought the shade,
And filled each pause the nightingale had made.
--_Goldsmith_.

16. To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest's shady scene,
Where things that own not man's dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean;--
This is not solitude; 't is but to hold
Converse with nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled.
--_Byron_.

17. The drawbridge dropped with a surly clang,
And through the dark arch a charger sprang,
Bearing Sir Launfal, the maiden knight,
In his gilded mail, that flamed so bright
It seemed the dark castle had gathered all
Those shafts the fierce sun had shot over its wall
In his siege of three hundred summers long,
And, binding them all in one blazing sheaf,
Had cast them forth; so, young and strong
And lightsome as a locust leaf,
Sir Launfal flashed forth in his maiden mail
To seek in all climes for the Holy Grail.--_Lowell_.

18. Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise,--
We love the play-place of our early days;
The scene is touching, and the heart is stone
That feels not at the sight, and feels at none.
The wall on which we tried our graving skill,
The very name we carved subsisting still;
The bench on which we sat while deep employed,
Tho' mangled, hacked, and hewed, not yet destroyed;
The little ones, unbuttoned, glowing hot,
Playing our games, and on the very spot,
As happy as we once, to kneel and draw
The chalky ring and knuckle down at taw,
To pitch the ball into the grounded hat,
Or drive it devious with a dexterous pat;--
The pleasing spectacle at once excites
Such recollection of our own delights
That, viewing it, we seem almost t' obtain
Our innocent, sweet, simple years again.--_Cowper_.

19. Considering our present advanced state of culture, and how the torch of
science has now been brandished and borne about, with more or less
effect, for five thousand years and upwards; how, in these times
especially, not only the torch still burns, and perhaps more fiercely
than ever, but innumerable rush-lights and sulphur-matches, kindled
thereat, are also glancing in every direction, so that not the smallest
cranny or doghole in nature or art can remain unilluminated,--it might
strike the reflective mind with some surprise that hitherto little or
nothing of a fundamental character, whether in the way of philosophy or
history, has been written on the subject of Clothes.--_Carlyle_.

20. When we see one word of a frail man on the throne of France tearing a
hundred thousand sons from their homes, breaking asunder the sacred
ties of domestic life, sentencing myriads of the young to make murder
their calling and rapacity their means of support, and extorting from
nations their treasures to extend this ruinous sway, we are ready to
ask ourselves, Is not this a dream? and, when the sad reality comes
home to us, we blush for a race which can stoop to such an abject lot.
At length, indeed, we see the tyrant humbled, stripped of power, but
stripped by those who, in the main, are not unwilling to play the
despot on a narrower scale, and to break down the spirit of nations
under the same iron sway.--_Channing_.

21. There are days which occur in this climate, at almost any season of the
year, wherein the world reaches its perfection; when the air, the
heavenly bodies, and the earth make a harmony, as if Nature would
indulge her offspring; when, in these bleak upper sides of the planet,
nothing is to desire that we have heard of the happiest latitudes, and
we bask in the shining hours of Florida and Cuba; when everything that
has life gives sign of satisfaction, and the cattle that lie on the
ground seem to have great and tranquil thoughts.---_Emerson_.

22. Did you never, in walking in the fields, come across a large flat
stone, which had lain, nobody knows how long, just where you found it,
with the grass forming a little hedge, as it were, all round it, close
to its edges; and have you not, in obedience to a kind of feeling that
told you it had been lying there long enough, insinuated your stick or
your foot or your fingers under its edge, and turned it over as a
housewife turns a cake, when she says to herself, "It's done brown
enough by this time"? But no sooner is the stone turned and the
wholesome light of day let upon this compressed and blinded community
of creeping things than all of them which enjoy the luxury of legs--and
some of them have a good many--rush round wildly, butting each other
and everything in their way, and end in a general stampede for
underground retreats from the region poisoned by sunshine. Next year
you will find the grass growing tall and green where the stone lay; the
ground-bird builds her nest where the beetle had his hole; the
dandelion and the buttercup are growing there, and the broad fans of
insect-angels open and shut over their golden disks, as the rhythmic
waves of blissful consciousness pulsate through their glorified
being.--_Holmes_.

23. There is a different and sterner path;--I know not whether there be any
now qualified to tread it; I am not sure that even one has ever
followed it implicitly, in view of the certain meagerness of its
temporal rewards, and the haste wherewith any fame acquired in a sphere
so thoroughly ephemeral as the Editor's must be shrouded by the dark
waters of oblivion. This path demands an ear ever open to the plaints
of the wronged and the suffering, though they can never repay advocacy,
and those who mainly support newspapers will be annoyed and often
exposed by it; a heart as sensitive to oppression and degradation in
the next street as if they were practiced in Brazil or Japan; a pen as
ready to expose and reprove the crimes whereby wealth is amassed and
luxury enjoyed in our own country at this hour as if they had been
committed only by Turks or pagans in Asia some centuries
ago.--_Greeley_.

24. To sweeten the beverage, a lump of sugar was laid beside each cup, and
the company alternately nibbled and sipped with great decorum, until an
improvement was introduced by a shrewd and economical old lady, which
was to suspend a large lump directly over the tea-table, by a string
from the ceiling, so that it could be swung from mouth to mouth--an
ingenious expedient, which is still kept up by some families in Albany,
but which prevails without exception in Communipaw, Bergen, Platbush,
and all our uncontaminated Dutch villages.--_Irving_.

* * * * *

COMPOSITION.

LESSON 146.

SUMMARY OF RULES FOR CAPITAL LETTERS AND PUNCTUATION.

CAPITAL LETTERS, TERMINAL MARKS, AND THE COMMA.

+Capital Letters+.--The first word of (1) a sentence, (2) a line of poetry, (3) a direct quotation making complete sense or a direct question introduced into a sentence, and (4) phrases or clauses separately numbered or paragraphed should begin with a capital letter. Begin with a capital letter (5) proper names (including all names of the Deity), and words derived from them, (6) names of things vividly personified, and (7) most abbreviations. Write in capital letters (8) the words I and 0, and (9) numbers in the Roman notation. [Footnote: Small letters are often used in referring to sections, chapters, etc.]

+Period+.--Place a period after (1) a declarative or an imperative sentence, (2) an abbreviation, (3) a number written in the Roman notation, and (4) Arabic figures used to enumerate.

+Interrogation Point+.--Every direct interrogative sentence or clause should be followed by an interrogation point.

+Exclamation Point+.--All exclamatory expressions must be followed by the exclamation point.

+Comma+.--Set off by the comma (1) an explanatory modifier which does not restrict the modified term or combine closely with it; (2) a participle used as an adjective modifier, with the words belonging to it, unless restrictive; (3) the adjective clause when not restrictive; (4) the adverb clause, unless it closely follows and restricts the word it modifies; (5) a phrase out of its usual order or not closely connected with the word it modifies; (6) a word or phrase independent or nearly so; (7) a direct quotation introduced into a sentence, unless formally introduced; (8) a noun clause used as an attribute complement; and (9) a term connected to another by _or_ and having the same meaning. Separate by the comma (10) connected words and phrases, unless all the conjunctions are expressed; (11) co-ordinate clauses when short and closely connected; and (12) the parts of a compound predicate, and other phrases, when long or differently modified. Use the comma (13) to denote an omission of words; (14) after _as_, _namely_, etc., introducing illustrations; and (15) when it is needed to prevent ambiguity.

+Direction+.--_Give the Rule for each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences, except the colon, the semicolon, and the quotation marks_:--

1. Francis II., Charles IX., and Henry III., three sons of Catherine de Medici and Henry II., sat upon the French throne. 2. The pupil asked, "When shall I use _O_, and when shall I use _oh?_" 3. Purity of style forbids us to use: 1. Foreign words; 2. Obsolete words; 3. Low words, or slang. 4. It is easy, Mistress Dial, for you, who have always, as everybody knows, set yourself up above me, to accuse me of laziness. 5. He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. 6. The Holy Land was, indeed, among the early conquests of the Saracens, Caliph Omar having, in 637 A. D., taken Jerusalem. 7. He who teaches, often learns himself. 8. San Salvador, Oct. 12, 1492. 9. Some letters are superfluous; as, _c_ and _q_. 10. No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet!

Direction.--_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons:_--

1. and lo from the assembled crowd
there rose a shout prolonged and loud
that to the ocean seemed to say
take her o bridegroom old and gray
2. a large rough mantle of sheepskin fastened around the loins by a girdle
or belt of hide was the only covering of that strange solitary man
elijah the tishbite
3. The result however of the three years' reign or tyranny of jas ii was
that wm of orange came over from holland and without shedding a drop of
blood became a d 1688 wm in of england
4. _o_ has three sounds: 1. that in _not_; 2. that in _note_; 3. that in
_move_
5. lowell asks and what is so rare as a day in June
6. spring is a fickle mistress but summer is more staid
7. if i may judge by his gorgeous colors and the exquisite sweetness and
variety of his music autumn is i should say the poet of the family
8. new york apr 30 1789
9. some letters stand each for many sounds; as _a_ and _o_

* * * * *

LESSON 147.

SUMMARY OF RULES--CONTINUED.

SEMICOLON AND COLON.

+Semicolon+.--Co-ordinate clauses, (1) when slightly connected, or (2) when themselves divided by the comma, must be separated by the semicolon. Use the semicolon (3) between serial phrases or clauses having a common dependence on something which precedes or follows; and (4) before _as_, _to wit_, _namely_, _i_. _e_., and _that is_, when they introduce examples or illustrations.

+Direction+.--_Justify each capital letter and each mark of punctuation (except the colon) in these sentences_:--

1. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it
will richly compensate for both.
2. Some words are delightful to the ear; as, _Ontario_, _golden_, _oriole_.
3. The shouts of revelry had died away; the roar of the lion had ceased;
the last loiterer had retired from the banquet; and the lights in the
palace of the victor were extinguished.
4. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it who
heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it who saw
their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill: and the
very walls will cry out in its support.

+Direction+.---_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons_:--

1. all parts of a plant reduce to three namely root stem and leaf
2. when the world is dark with tempests when thunder rolls and lightning
flies thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds and laughest at the
storm
3. the oaks of the mountains fall the mountains themselves decay with years
the ocean shrinks and grows again the moon herself is lost in heaven
4. kennedy taking from her a handkerchief edged with gold pinned it over
her eyes the executioners holding her by the arms led her to the block
and the queen kneeling down said repeatedly with a firm voice into thy
hands o lord i commend my spirit

+Colon+.--Use the colon (1) between the parts of a sentence when these parts are themselves divided by the semicolon, and (2) before a quotation or an enumeration of particulars when formally introduced.

+Direction+.--_Justify each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences_:--

1. You may swell every expense, and strain every effort, still more
extravagantly; accumulate every assistance you can beg and borrow;
traffic and barter with every little, pitiful German prince that sells
and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign country: your
efforts are forever vain and impotent.

2. This is a precept of Socrates: "Know thyself."

+Direction+.--_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons_:--

1. the advice given ran thus take care of the minutes and the hours will
take care of themselves
2. we may abound in meetings and movements enthusiastic gatherings in the
field and forest may kindle all minds with a common sentiment but it is
all in vain if men do not retire from the tumult to the silent culture
of every right disposition

+Direction+.---_Write sentences illustrating the several uses of the semicolon, the colon, and the comma_.

* * * * *

LESSON 148.

SUMMARY OF RULES--CONTINUED.

THE DASH, MARKS OF PARENTHESIS, APOSTROPHE, HYPHEN, QUOTATION MARKS, AND BRACKETS.

+Dash+.--Use the dash where there is an omission (1) of letters or figures, and (2) of such words as _as_, _namely_, or _that is_, introducing illustrations or equivalent expressions. Use the dash (3) where the sentence breaks off abruptly, and the same thought is resumed after a slight suspension, or another takes its place; and (4) before a word or phrase repeated at intervals for emphasis. The dash may be used (5) instead of marks of parenthesis, and may (6) follow other marks, adding to their force.

+Direction+.--_Justify each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences:--_

1. The most noted kings of Israel were the first three--Saul; David, and Solomon. 2. When Mrs. B---- heard of her son's disgrace, she fainted away. 3. And--"This to me?" he said. 4. Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage--what are they? 5. I do not rise to supplicate you to be merciful toward the nation to which I belong,--toward a nation which, though subject to England, yet is distinct from it. 6. We know the uses--and sweet they are--of adversity. 7. His place business is 225--229 High street.

+Direction+.---_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons_:--

1. the human species is composed of two distinct races those who borrow and those who lend 2. this bill this infamous bill the way it has been received by the house the manner in which its opponents have been treated the personalities to which they have been subjected all these things dissipate my doubts 3. the account of a _____'s shame fills pp 1 19 4. lord marmion turned well was his need and dashed the rowels in his steed

+Marks of Parenthesis+.--Marks of parenthesis may be used to inclose what has no essential connection with the rest of the sentence.

+Apostrophe+.--Use the apostrophe (1) to mark the omission of letters, (2) in the pluralizing of letters, figures, and characters, and (3) to distinguish the possessive from other cases.

+Hyphen+.--Use the hyphen (-) (1) to join the parts of compound words, and (2) between syllables when a word is divided.

+Quotation Marks+.--Use quotation marks to inclose a copied word or passage. If the quotation contains a quotation, the latter is inclosed within single marks. (See Lesson 74.)

+Brackets+.--Use brackets [ ] to inclose what, in quoting another's words, you insert by way of explanation or correction.

+Direction+.--_Justify the marks of punctuation used in these sentences_:--

1. Luke says, Acts xxi. 15, "We took up our carriages [luggage], and went up to Jerusalem." 2. The last sentence of the composition was, "I close in the words of Patrick Henry, 'Give me liberty, or give me death.'" 3. _Red-hot_ is a compound adjective. 4. _Telegraph_ is divided thus: _tel_-_e_-_graph_. 5. The profound learning of Sir William Jones (he was master of twenty-eight languages) was the wonder of his contemporaries. 6. By means of the apostrophe you know that _love_ in _mother's love_ is a noun, and that i's isn't a verb.

+Direction+.---_Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons_:--

1. next to a conscience void of offense without which by the bye life isnt
worth the living is the enjoyment of the social feelings
2. man the life boat
3. don't neglect in writing to dot your _is_ cross your _ts_ and make your
7_s_ unlike your 9_s_ and don't in speaking omit the _hs_ from such
words as _which_ _when_ and _why_ or insert _rs_ in _law_ _saw_ and
_raw_
4. the scriptures tell us take no thought anxiety for the morrow
5. The speaker said american oratory rose to its high water mark in that
great speech ending liberty and union now and forever one and
inseparable

* * * * *

LESSON 149.

CAPITAL LETTERS AND PUNCTUATION--REVIEW.

+Direction+.--_Give the reason for each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences_:--

1. A bigot's mind is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour
upon it, the more it contracts.
2. This is the motto of the University of Oxford: "The Lord is my light."
3. The only fault ever found with him is, that he sometimes fights ahead of
his orders.
4. The land flowing with "milk and honey" (see Numbers xiv. 8) was a long,
narrow strip, lying along the eastern edge, or coast, of the
Mediterranean, and consisted of three divisions; namely, 1. On the
north, Galilee; 2. On the south, Judea; 3, In the middle, Samaria.
5. "What a lesson," Trench well says, "the word 'diligence' contains!"
6. An honest man, my neighbor,--there he stands--
Was struck--struck like a dog, by one who wore
The badge of Ursini.
7. Thou, too, sail on, 0 Ship of State;
Sail on, 0 Union, strong and great.
8. O'Connell asks, "The clause which does away with trial by jury--what,
in the name of H----n, is it, if it is not the establishment of a
revolutionary tribunal?"
9. There are only three departments of the mind--the intellect, the
feelings, and the will.
10. This--trial!
11. American nationality has made the desert to bud and blossom as the
rose; it has quickened to life the giant brood of useful arts; it has
whitened lake and ocean with the sails of a daring, new, and lawful
trade; it has extended to exiles, flying as clouds, the asylum of our
better liberty.
12. As I saw him [Weoster, the day before his great reply to Col. Hayne of
South Carolina] in the evening, (if I may borrow an illustration from
his favorite amusement) he was as unconcerned and as free of spirit as
some here present have seen him while floating in his fishing-boat
along a hazy shore, gently rocking on the tranquil tide, dropping his
line here and there, with the varying fortune of the sport. The next
morning he was like some mighty admiral, dark and terrible, casting the
long shadow of his frowning tiers far over the sea, that seemed to sink
beneath him; his broad pendant [pennant] streaming at the main, the
stars and the stripes at the fore, the mizzen, and the peak; and
bearing down like a tempest upon his antagonist, with all his canvas
strained to the wind, and all his thunders roaring from his broadsides.
13. The "beatitudes" are found in Matt. v. 3--11.

TO THE TEACHER.--If further work in punctuation is needed, require the pupils to justify the punctuation of the sentences beginning page 314.

* * * * *

LESSON 150.

QUALITIES OF STYLE.

+Style+ is the manner in which one expresses himself. Styles differ as men differ. But there are some cardinal qualities that all good style must possess.

I. +Perspicuity.+--Perspicuity is opposed to obscurity of all kinds; it means clearness of expression. It demands that the thought in the sentence shall be plainly seen through the words of the sentence. Perspicuity is an indispensable quality of style; if the thought is not understood, or it is misunderstood, its expression might better have been left unattempted. Perspicuity depends mainly upon these few things:--

1. +One's Clear Understanding of What One Attempts to Say.+--You cannot express to others more than you thoroughly know, or make your thought clearer to them than it is to yourself.

2. +The Unity of the Sentence.+--Many thoughts, or thoughts having no natural and close connection with each other, should not be crowded into one sentence.

3. +The Use of the Right Words.+--Use such words as convey your thought--each word expressing exactly your idea, no more, no less, no other. Use words in the senses recognized by the best authority. Do not omit words when they are needed, and do not use a superfluity of them. Be cautious in the use of _he_, _she_, _it_, and _they_. Use simple words--words which those who are addressed can readily understand. Avoid what are called bookish, inkhorn, terms; shun words that have passed out of use, and those that have no footing in the language--foreign words, words newly coined, and slang.

4. +A Happy Arrangement.+--The relations of single words to each other, of phrases to the words they modify, and of clauses to one another should be obvious at a glance. The sentence should not need rearrangement in order to disclose the meaning. Sentences should stand in the paragraph so that the beginning of each shall tally exactly in thought with the sentence that precedes; and the ending of each, with the sentence that follows. Every paragraph should be a unit in thought, distinct from other paragraphs, holding to them the relation that its own sentences hold to one another, the relation that the several parts of each sentence hold to one another.

II. +Energy+.--By energy we mean force, vigor, of expression. In ordinary discourse, it is not often sought, and in no discourse is it constantly sought. We use energy when we wish to convince the intellect, arouse the feelings, and capture the will--lead one to do something. When energetic, we select words and images for strength and not for beauty; choose specific, and not general, terms; prefer the concrete to the abstract; use few words and crowd these with meaning; place subordinate clauses before the independent; and put the strongest word in the clause, the strongest clause in the sentence, the strongest sentence in the paragraph, and the strongest paragraph in the discourse, last. Energetic thought seeks variety of expression, is usually charged with intense feeling, and requires impassioned delivery.

III. +Imagery--Figures of Speech+.--Things stand in many relations to each other. Some +things are (1) like each other+ in some particular; other +things are (2) unlike each other+ in some particular; and still other +things stand to each other (3)+ in some +other+ noteworthy +relation than+ that of +likeness+ or +unlikeness+. Things long seen and associated by us in any of these relations come at last readily to suggest each other. +Figures of Speech+ are those expressions in which, departing from our ordinary manner in speaking of things, we assert or assume any of these notable relations. The first and great service of imagery is to the thought--it makes the thought clearer and stronger. Imagery adds beauty to style--a diamond brooch may adorn as well as do duty to the dress.

A +Simile+, or +Comparison+, is a figure of speech in which we point out or assert a likeness between things otherwise unlike; as, The gloom of despondency _hung like a cloud_ over the land.

A +Metaphor+ is a figure of speech in which, assuming the likeness between two things, we bring over and apply to one of them the term that denotes the other; as, A stately _squadron of snowy_ geese were _riding_ in an adjoining pond.

A +Personification+ is a figure of speech in which things are raised to a plane of being above their own--to or toward that of persons. It +raises+ (1) +mere things to+ the plane of +animals+; as, The _sea licks_ your feet, its huge _flanks purr_ pleasantly for you. It raises (2) +mere animals to+ the plane of +persons+; as, So _talked_ the spirited, sly _Snake_. It +raises+ (3) +mere things to+ the plane of +persons+; as, _Earth_ fills her _lap_ with pleasures of _her_ own.

An +Antithesis+ is a figure of speech in which things mutually opposed in some particular are set over against each other; as, The _mountains give_ their lost children _berries_ and _water_; the _sea mocks_ their _thirst_ and _lets_ them _die_.

A +Metonymy+ is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing connected to another by a relation other than likeness or unlikeness is brought over and applied to that other. The most important of these relations are (1) that of the +sign+ to the +thing signified+; (2) that of +cause+ to +effect+; (3) that of +instrument+ to the +user+ of it; (4) that of +container+ to the +thing contained+; (5) that of +material+ to the +thing made out of it+; (6) that of +contiguity+; (7) that of the +abstract+ to the +concrete+; and (8) that of +part+ to the +whole+ or of +whole+ to the +part+.

This last relation has been thought so important that the metonymy based upon it has received a distinct name--+Synecdoche+.

+IV. Variety+.--Variety is a quality of style opposed to monotonous uniformity. Nothing in discourse pleases us more than light and shade. In discourse properly varied, the same word does not appear with offensive frequency; long words alternate with short; the usual order now and then yields to the transposed; the verb in the assertive form frequently gives way to the participle and the infinitive, which assume; figures of speech sparkle here and there in a setting of plain language; the full method of statement is followed by the contracted; impassioned language is succeeded by the unemotional; long sentences stand side by side with short, and loose sentences with periods; declarative sentences are relieved by interrogative and exclamatory, and simple sentences by compound and complex; clauses have no rigidly fixed position; and sentences heavy with meaning and moving slowly are elbow to elbow with the light and tripping. In a word, no one form or method or matter is continued so long as to weary, and the reader is kept fresh and interested throughout. Variety is restful to the reader or hearer and therefore adds greatly to the clearness and to the force of what is addressed to him.

TO THE TEACHER.--Question the pupils upon every point taken up in this Lesson and require them to give illustrations where it is possible for them to do so.

* * * * *

LESSON 151.

PERSPICUITY--CRITICISM.

+General Direction+.--_In all your work in Composition attend carefully to the punctuation_.

+Direction+.--_Point out the faults, and recast these sentences, making them clear_:--

[Footnote: These four sentences and others in these Lessons, given just as we found them, have been culled from school compositions.]

1. He was locked in and so he sat still till the guard came and let him out, as soon as he stepped out on the ground, he saw the dead and dying laying about everywhere. 2. They used to ring a large bell at six o'clock in the morning for us to get up, then we had half an hour to dress in, after which we would go to Chapel exercises, then breakfast, school would commence at nine o'clock and closed at four in the afternoon allowing an hour for dinner from one until two then we would resume our studies until four in the afternoon. 3. Jewelry was worn in the time of King Pharaoh which is many thousand years before Christ in the time when the Israelites left they borrowed all the jewels of the Egyptians which were made of gold and silver. 4. When it is made of gold they can not of pure gold but has to be mixed with some other metal which is generally copper which turns it a reddish hue in some countries they use silver which gives it a whitish hue but in the United States and England they use both silver and copper but the English coins are the finest.

+Direction+.--_Point out the faults, and recast these sentences, making them clear_:--

(If any one of the sentences has several meanings, give these.)

1. James's son, Charles I., before the breath was out of his body was
proclaimed king in his stead.
2. He told the coachman that he would be the death of him, if he did not
take care what he was about, and mind what he said.
3. Richelieu said to the king that Mazarin would carry out his policy.
4. He was overjoyed to see him, and he sent for one of his workmen, and
told him to consider himself at his service.
5. Blake answered the Spanish priest that if he had sent in a complaint, he
would have punished the sailors severely; but he took it ill that he set
the Spaniards on to punish them.

+Direction+.--_So place these subordinate clauses that they will remove the obscurity, and then see in how many ways each sentence can be arranged_:--

1. The moon cast a pale light on the graves that were scattered around, as it peered above the horizon. 2. A large number of seats were occupied by pupils that had no backs. 3. Crusoe was surprised at seeing five canoes on the shore in which there were savages. 4. This tendency will be headed off by approximations which will be made from time to time of the written word to the spoken. 5. People had to travel on horseback and in wagons, which was a very slow way, if they traveled at all. 6. How can brethren partake of their Father's blessing that curse each other? 7. Two men will be tried for crimes in this town which are punishable with death, if a full court should attend.

Direction.--_Each of these sentences may have two meanings, supply the two ellipses in each sentence, and remove the ambiguity:_--

1. Let us trust no strength less than thine. 2. Study had more attraction for him than his friend. 3. He did not like the new teacher so well as his playmates. 4. He aimed at nothing less than the crown. 5. Lovest thou me more than these?

* * * * *

LESSON 152.

PERSPICUITY--CRITICISM.

Direction.--_So place these italicized phrases that they will remove the obscurity, and then see in how many ways each sentence can be arranged:_--

1. These designs any man who is a Briton _in any situation_ ought to disavow. 2. The chief priests, mocking, said among themselves _with the scribes_, "He saved," etc. 3. Hay is given to horses _as well as corn_ to distend the stomach. 4. Boston has forty first class grammar-schools, _exclusive of Dorchester_. 5. He rode to town, and drove twelve cows _on horseback_. 6. He could not face an enraged father _in spite of his effrontery_. 7. Two owls sat upon a tree which grew near an old wall _out of a heap of rubbish_. 8. I spent most _on the river and in the river_ of the time I stayed there. 9. He wanted to go to sea, although it was contrary to the wishes of his parents, _at the age of eighteen_. 10. I have a wife and six children, and I have never seen _one of them._

+Direction.+--_So place the italicized words and phrases in each sentence that they will help to convey what you think is the author's thought, and then see in how many ways each sentence can be arranged:_--

1. In Paris, every lady _in full dress_ rides. 2. I saw my friend when I was in Boston _walking down Tremont street_. 3. The Prince of Wales was forbidden to become king _or any other man_. 4. What is his coming or going _to you_? 5. We do those things _frequently_ which we repent of afterwards. 6. I rushed out leaving the wretch with his tale half told, _horror-stricken at his crime_. 7. Exclamation points are scattered up and down the page by compositors _without any mercy._ 8. I want to make a present to one who is fond of chickens _for a Christmas gift_.

+Direction.+--_Make these sentences clear by using simpler words and phrases:_--

1. _A devastating conflagration raged_. 2. He _conducted_ her to the _altar of Hymen_. 3. A donkey has an _abnormal elongation of auricular appendages_. 4. Are you _excavating a subterranean canal?_ 5. He had no _capillary substance_ on the _summit_ of his head. 6. He made a sad _faux pas_. 7. A network is anything _reticulated or decussated, with interstices at equal distances between the intersections_. 8. Diligence is the _sine qua non_ of success. 9. She has _donned the habiliments of woe_. 10. The _deceased_ was to-day _deposited in his last resting-place_. 11. The _inmates proceeded to the sanctuary_. 12. I have _partaken of my morning repast_. 13. He _took the initiative in inaugurating the ceremony_.

* * * * *

LESSON 153.

ENERGY--CRITICISM.

+Direction+.--_Expand these brief expressions into sentences full of long words, and note the loss of energy_:--

1. To your tents, 0 Israel! 2. Up, boys, and at them! 3. Indeed! 4. Bah! 5. Don't give up the ship! 6. Murder will out. 7. Oh! 8. Silence there! 9. Hurrah! 10. Death or free speech! 11. Rascal! 12. No matter. 13. Least said, soonest mended. 14. Death to the tyrant! 15. I'll none of it. 16. Help, ho! 17. Shame on you! 18. First come, first served.

+Direction+.--_Condense each of these italicized expressions into one or two words, and note the gain_:--

1. He _shuffled off this mortal coil_ yesterday. 2. The author surpassed all _those who were living at the same time with him_. 3. To say that revelation is _a thing which there is no need of_ is to talk wildly. 4. He _departed this life_. 5. Some say that ever _'gainst that season comes wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated_ this _bird of dawning_ singeth all night long.

+Direction+.--_Change these specific words to general terms, and note the loss in energy_:---

1. Don't _fire_ till _you see the whites of their eyes_. 2. _Break down_ the _dikes_, give Holland back to _ocean_. 3. _Three hundred men_ held the hosts of _Xerxes_ at bay. 4. I _sat_ at her _cradle_, I _followed_ her _hearse_. 5. Their _daggers_ have _stabbed_ Caesar. 6. When I'm _mad_, I _weigh a ton_. 7. _Burn_ Moscow, _starve back_ the _invaders_. 8. There's no use in _crying over spilt milk_. 9. In proportion as men delight in _battles_ and _bull-fights_ will they punish by _hanging, burning_, and the _rack_.

+Direction+.--_Change these general terms to specific words, and note the gain in energy_:--

1. Anne Boleyn was _executed_. 2. It were better for him that a _heavy weight were fastened to him_ and that he were _submerged_ in _the waste of waters_. 3. _The capital of the chosen people_ was _destroyed_ by _a Roman general_. 4. Consider the _flowers_ how they _increase in size_. 5. Caesar was _slain_ by _the conspirators_. 6. The _cities of the plain_ were _annihilated_.

+Direction+.--_Arrange these words, phrases, and clauses in the order of their strength, placing the strongest last, and note the gain in energy_:--

1. The nations of the earth repelled, surrounded, pursued, and resisted him. 2. He was no longer consul nor citizen nor general nor even an emperor, but a prisoner and an exile. 3. I shall die an American; I live an American; I was born an American. 4. All that I am, all that I hope to be, and all that I have in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it. 5. I shall defend it without this House, in all places, and within this House; at all times, in time of peace and in time of war. 6. We must fight if we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate our rights, if we do not mean to abandon the struggle.

* * * * *

LESSON 154.

FIGURES OF SPEECH--CRITICISM.

+Direction+.--_Name the figures of speech, and then recast a few sentences, using plain language, and note the loss of beauty and force_:--

1. Lend me your _ears_. 2. Please address the _chair_. 3. The robin knows when your grapes have _cooked_ long enough in the sun. 4. A day will come when _bullets_ and _bombs_ shall be replaced by _ballots_. 5. _Genius creates; taste appreciates what is created_. 6. Caesar were no _lion_ were not Romans _hinds_. 7. The soul of Jonathan was _knit_ to that of David. 8. _Traffic_ has _lain down_ to rest. 9. Borrowing _dulls_ _the edge_ of husbandry. 10. He will bring down my _gray hairs_ with sorrow to the grave. 11. Have you _read Froude_ or _Freeman?_ 12. The _pen_ is mightier than the _sword_. 13. If I can _catch him once upon the hip_, I will _feed fat_ the ancient grudge I bear him. 14. The destinies of mankind were _trembling in the balance_, while _death fell_ in showers. 15. The _threaded steel_ flies swiftly. 16. O Cassius, you are _yoked with a lamb_ that _carries anger as the flint bears fire_. 17. I called the _New World_ into existence to redress the balance of the Old_. 18. Nations shall _beat their swords into plowshares_, and _their spears into pruning-hooks_. 19. The _Morn_ in _russet mantle clad walks o'er the dew_ of yon high eastern hill. 20. _Homer_, like the _Nile_, pours out his riches with a _sudden overflow; Virgil_, like a _river in its banks_, with a _constant stream_. 21. The air _bites_ shrewdly. 22. He doth _bestride_ the narrow world _like a Colossus_. 23. My _heart_ is in the coffin there with Caesar. 24. All _hands_ to the pumps! 25. The _gray-eyed Morn smiles_ on the _frowning Night_. 26. The good is often buried with men's _bones_. 27. Beware of the _bottle_. 28. All nations respect our _flag_. 29. The _marble_ speaks. 30. I have no _spur to prick the sides_ of my intent. 31. I _am as constant as the northern star_. 32. Then _burst_ his mighty _heart_. 33. The ice is covered with _health_ and _beauty_ on skates. 34. Lentulus returned with _victorious eagles_. 35. _Death_ hath _sucked_ the honey of thy breath. 36. Our _chains are forged_. 37. I have _bought golden_ opinions. 38. The _hearth blazed_ high. 39. His words _fell softer than snows on the brine_. 40. _Night's candles are burnt out_, and _jocund Day stands tiptoe_ on the misty mountain top.

+Direction+.--_In the first four sentences, use similes; in the second four, metaphors; in the third four, personifications; in the last eight, metonymies:--_

1. He _flew with the swiftness of an arrow_. 2. In battle some men _are brave_, others _are cowardly_. 3. His head is as full of plans _as it can hold_. 4. I heard a _loud_ noise. 5. Boston is the _place where_ American liberty _began_. 6. Our dispositions should grow _mild_ as we _grow old_. 7. _The stars can no longer be seen_. 8. In battle some men are _brave_, others are _cowardly_. 9. The cock tears up the ground for his family of _hens_ and _chickens_. 10. The waves _were still_. 11. The oak stretches out _its_ strong _branches_. 12. The flowers are the sweet and pretty _growths_ of the earth and sun. 13. English _vessels_ plow the seas of the two _hemispheres_. 14. Have you read _Lamb's Essays_? 15. The _water_ is boiling. 16. We have prostrated ourselves before the _king_. 17. _Wretched people_ shiver in _their_ lair of straw. 18. The _soldier_ is giving way to the _husbandman_. 19. _Swords_ flashed, and _bullets_ fell. 20. His banner led the _spearmen_ no more.

+Remark+.--If what is begun as a metaphor is not completed as begun, but is completed by a part of another metaphor or by plain language, we have what, is called a _mixed metaphor_. It requires great care to avoid this very common error.

+Direction+.--_Correct these errors_:--

1. The _devouring_ fire _uprooted_ the stubble. 2. The _brittle_ thread of life may be _cut_ asunder. 3. All the _ripe fruit_ of three-score years was _blighted_ in a day. 4. _Unravel_ the _obscurities_ of this _knotty_ question. 5. We must apply the _axe_ to the _fountain_ of this evil. 6. The man _stalks_ into court like a _motionless_ statue, with the _cloak_ of hypocrisy in his _mouth_. 7. The thin _mantle_ of snow _dissolved_. 8. I smell a _rat_, I see him _brewing_ in the air, but I shall yet _nip him in the bud_.

* * * * *

LESSON 155.

VARIETY IN EXPRESSION.

+Remark+.--You learned in Lessons 52, 53, 54 that the usual order may give way to the transposed; in 55, 56, that one kind of simple sentence may be changed to another; in 57, that simple sentences may be contracted; in 61, that adjectives may be expanded into clauses; in 67, that an adverb clause may stand before, between the parts of, and after, the independent clause; in 68, that an adverb clause may be contracted to a participle, a participle phrase, an absolute phrase, a prepositional phrase, that it may be contracted by the omission of words, and may be changed to an adjective clause or phrase; in 73, that a noun clause as subject may stand last, and as object complement may stand first, that it may be made prominent, and may be contracted; in 74, that direct quotations and questions may be changed to indirect, and indirect to direct; in 77, that compound sentences may be formed out of simple sentences, may be contracted to simple sentences, and may be changed to complex sentences; in 79, that participles, absolute phrases, and infinitives may be expanded into different kinds of clauses; and, in 130, that a verb may change its voice.

+Direction+.--_Illustrate all these changes_.

+Direction+.--_Recast these sentences, avoiding offensive repetitions of the same word or the same sounds_:--

1. We have to have money to have a horse.
2. We sailed across a bay and sailed up a creek and sailed back and sailed
in all about fourteen miles.
3. It is then put into stacks, or it is put into barns either to use it to
feed it to the stock or to sell it.
4. This day we undertake to render an account to the widows and orphans
whom our decision will make; to the wretches that will be roasted at the
stake.
5. The news of the battle of Bunker Hill, fought on the 17th of June in the
year of our Lord 1775, roused the patriotism of the people to a high
pitch of enthusiasm.

+Direction+.---_Using other words wholly or in part, see in how many ways you can express the thoughts contained in these sentences_:--

1. In the profusion and recklessness of her lies, Elizabeth had no peer in England. 2. Henry IV. said that James I. was the wisest fool in Christendom. 3. Cowper's letters are charming because they are simple and natural. 4. George IV., though he was pronounced the first gentleman in Europe, was, nevertheless, a snob.

* * * * *

LESSON 156.

THE PARAGRAPH.

+The Paragraph+.--The clauses of complex sentences are so closely united in meaning that frequently they are not to be separated from each other even by the comma. The clauses of compound sentences are less closely united--a comma, a semicolon, or a colon is needed to divide them.

Between sentences there exists a wider separation in meaning, marked by a period or other terminal point. But even sentences may be connected, the bond which unites them being their common relation to the thought which jointly they develop. Sentences thus related are grouped together and form, as you have already learned, what we call a Paragraph, marked by beginning the first word a little to the right of the marginal line.

+Direction+.--_Notice the facts which this paragraph contains, and the relation to each other of the clauses and the sentences expressing these facts_:--

After a breeze of some sixty hours from the north and northwest, the wind died away about four o'clock yesterday afternoon. The calm continued till about nine in the evening. The mercury in the barometer fell, in the meantime, at an extraordinary rate; and the captain predicted that we should encounter a gale from the southeast. The gale came on about eleven o'clock; not violent at first, but increasing every moment.

1. A breeze from the north and northwest. 2. The wind died away. 3. A calm. 4. Barometer fell. 5. The captain predicted a gale. 6. It came on. 7. It increased in violence.

+Direction+.--Give and number the facts contained in the paragraph below:--

I awoke with a confused recollection of a good deal of rolling and thumping in the night, occasioned by the dashing of the waves against the ship. Hurrying on my clothes, I found such of the passengers as could stand, at the doors of the hurricane-house, holding on, and looking out in the utmost consternation. It was still quite dark. Four of the sails were already in ribbons: the winds whistling through the cordage; the rain dashing furiously and in torrents; the noise and spray scarcely less than I found them under the great sheet at Niagara.

+Direction+.---_Weave the facts below into a paragraph, supplying all you need to make the narrative smooth_:--

Rip's beard was grizzled. Fowling-piece rusty. Dress uncouth. Women and children at his heels. Attracted attention. Was eyed from head to foot. Was asked on which side he voted. Whether he was Federal or Democrat. Rip was dazed by the question. Stared in stupidity.

+Direction+.---_Weave the facts below into two paragraphs, supplying what you need, and tell what each paragraph is about_:--

In place of the old tree there was a pole. This was tall and naked. A flag was fluttering from it. The flag had on it the stars and stripes. This was strange to Rip. But Rip saw something he remembered. The tavern sign. He recognized on it the face of King George. Still the picture was changed. The red coat gone. One of blue and buff in its place. A sword, and not a scepter, in the hand. Wore a cocked hat. Underneath was painted--"General Washington."

* * * * *

LESSON 157.

THE PARAGRAPH.

+Direction+.---_Weave the facts below into three paragraphs, and write on the margin what each is about_:--

The Nile rises in great lakes. Runs north. Sources two thousand miles from Alexandria. Receives two branches only. Runs through an alluvial valley. Course through the valley is 1,500 miles. Plows into the Mediterranean. Two principal channels. Minor outlets. Nile overflows its banks. Overflow caused by rains at the sources. The melting of the mountain snows. Begins at the end of June. Rises four inches daily. Rises till the close of September. Subsides. Whole valley an inland sea. Only villages above the surface. The valley very fertile. The deposit. The fertile strip is from five to one hundred and fifty miles wide. Renowned for fruitfulness. Egypt long the granary of the world. Three crops from December to June. Productions--grain, cotton, and indigo.

Direction.---_Weave these facts into four paragraphs, writing the margin of each the main thought_:--