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ground retreats and expose them to the warmth of the sun to be hatched. When they are seen carrying them in again in great haste, though there be not a cloud in the sky, your walk or your drive must be postponed; a storm is near at hand.

"Signs and Seasons," John Burroughs.

2. Then the moving was an event, too. A farmer had a barn to move, or wanted to build a new house on the site of the old one, and the latter must be drawn to one side. Now this work is done with pulleys and rollers by a few men and a horse; then the building was drawn by sheer bovine strength. Every man that had a yoke of cattle in the country round about was invited to assist. The barn or house was pried up and great runners, cut in the woods, placed under it, and under the runners were placed skids. To these runners it was securely chained and pinned; then the cattle-stags, steers, and oxen, in two long lines, one at each runner-were hitched fast, and while men and boys aided with great levers, the word to go was given. Slowly the two lines of bulky cattle straightened and settled into their bows; the big chains that wrapped the runners tightened, a dozen or more "gads" were flourished, a dozen or more lusty throats urged their teams at the tops of their voices, when there was a creak or a groan as the building stirred. Then the drivers redoubled their efforts; there was a perfect Babel of discordant sounds; the oxen bent to the work, their eyes bulged, their nostrils distended; the onlookers cheered, and away went the old house or barn as nimbly as a boy on a hand-sled. Not always, however; sometimes the chains would break, or one runner strike a rock, and bury itself in the earth. There were generally enough mishaps or delays to make it interesting.

"Signs and Seasons," John Burroughs.

3. The life of a swarm of bees is like the active and hazardous campaign of an army; the ranks are being continually depleted and continually recruited. What adventures they have by flood and field, and what hairbreadth escapes! A strong swarm during the honey season loses, on an average, about four or five thousand per month, or

one hundred and fifty per day. They are overwhelmed by wind and rain, caught by spiders, benumbed by cold, crushed by cattle, drowned in rivers and ponds, and in many nameless ways cut off or disabled. In the spring the principal mortality is from cold. As the sun declines they get chilled before they can reach home. Many fall down outside the hive, unable to get in with their burden. One may see them come utterly spent and drop helplessly into the grass in front of their very doors. Before they can rest the cold has stiffened them. I go out in April and May and pick them up by the handfuls, their baskets loaded with pollen, and warm them in the sun or the house, or by the simple heat of my hand, until they can crawl into the hive. Heat is their life, and an apparently lifeless bee may be revived by warming him. I have also picked them up while rowing on the river and have seen them safely to shore.

Honey was a much more important article of food with the ancients than it is with us. As they appear to have been unacquainted with sugar, honey no doubt stood them in stead. It is too rank and pungent for the modern taste; it soon cloys upon the palate. It demands the appetite of youth, and the strong, robust digestion of people who live much in the open air. It is a more wholesome food than sugar, and modern confectionery is poison beside it. Besides grape sugar, honey contains manna, mucilage, pollen, acid, and other vegetable odoriferous substances and juices. It is a sugar with a kind of wild natural bread added. The manna is of itself both food and medicine, and the pungent vegetable extracts have rare virtues. Honey promotes the excretions and dissolves the glutinous and starchy impedimenta of the system.

Hence it is not without reason that with the ancients a land flowing with milk and honey should mean a land abounding in all good things; and the queen in the nursery rhyme, who lingered in the kitchen to eat "bread and honey" while the "king was in the parlor counting out his money," was doing a very sensible thing. Epaminondas is said to have eaten rarely anything but bread and honey. The Emperor Augustus one day inquired of a centurian how he had kept his vigor of mind and body so long; to which the

veteran replied that it was "oil without and honey within." Cicero, in his "Old Age," classes honey with meat and milk and cheese as among the staple articles with which a wellkept farmhouse will be supplied.

"Locusts and Wild Honey," John Burroughs.

3. Go back to Section VI., page 32, and find the topic sentences in each paragraph.

4. Supply the topic sentences in the following:

I. Even in the well-watered gardens of the middle region, where the flowers grow tallest, and where during warm weather the bears wallow and roll, no evidence of destruction is visible. On the contrary, under Nature's direction, the massive beasts act as gardeners.

forest floor, carpeted with needles and brush, and on the tough sod of glacier meadows, bears make no mark; but around the sandy margins of lakes their magnificent tracks form grand lines of embroidery. Their well-worn trails extend along the main cañons on either side, and, though dusty in some places, make no scar on the landscape. They bite and break off the branches of some of the pines and oaks to get the nuts, but this pruning is so light that few mountaineers ever notice it; and, though they interfere with the orderly lichen-veiled decay of fallen trees, tearing them to pieces to reach the colonies of ants that inhabit them, the scattered ruins are quickly pressed back into harmony by snow and rain and overleaning vegetation.

2. Of all the tourists and travelers who have visited the Yosemite and the adjacent mountains, not one has been bitten by a snake of any sort, while thousands have been charmed by them. Some of them vie with the lizards in beauty of color and dress-patterns. Only the rattlesnake is venomous, and he carefully keeps his venom to himself as far as man is concerned, unless his life is threatened.

5. Choose one of the plans you made under Exercise I, page 95. Write a composition according to it, taking care to begin each paragraph with a topic sentence.

6. Write a composition on one of the following subjects. Write a paragraph on each topic stated in the topic

sentences.

I.

A DESCRIPTION OF A TOWN

is a typical (Illinois) town. (Describe the general situation, style of buildings, and so forth.)

The main industries are

The most notable public buildings are and describe.)

2.

(Enumerate

THE MOST INTERESTING BOOK I HAVE

READ

is the most interesting book I have ever read. (Give

the reasons why it is interesting.)

WHY I WISH TO BE A LAWYER, DOCTOR,
SOLDIER

Among the many occupations in life I should choose In the first place it attracts me, because it requires (much) preparation. (Discuss the amount and kind of preparation.)

In the second place it attracts me because it offers opportunity to make a good living. (State the wages, etc.) Finally, it attracts me because

(Give the aspect of it that you think you would especially enjoy.)

SECTION VIII. PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT

You have seen that in the whole composition you must not only leave out whatever does not bear on your subject, but you must also put in what does bear on it. If a topic belongs to your subject, you must discuss it; mere mention

of it is not sufficient. To mention your topic and not discuss it, would be like giving your title but neglecting to write your composition.

The following composition is faulty because the second paragraph merely states a topic but does not treat it:

OUR ROOM IN ROME

We reached Rome two days before Easter Sunday, anxious to witness the beautiful Easter service in St. Peter's church. As we drove to a hotel we saw many foreigners in the streets, but it did not occur to us that their number could affect our comfort until we confidently ordered rooms. The proprietor informed us with regretful bows that all his rooms were taken. With spirits but slightly dashed, we drove to another hotel, only to hear the same words. To house after house we went, our despair growing, and our bill to the driver increasing. At last, having exhausted our list of hotels and pensions, we turned to our driver for suggestions. In broken English he said he thought his cousin might take us in if we did not mind the palazzo being on a small street. When we said the street did not matter, he took us to an old, marble palace unspeakably dirty. At his call a fat, untidy signora appeared, and after talking with him, said she would give us a room.

Never in my life did I see such a grimy room.

The first paragraph treats its topic, the search for a room, at sufficient length. The second states a topic, but does not treat it. The paragraph should be developed by describing the room, which is the main interest in the composition. Of the two paragraphs, the second should be the longer.

Exercises

I. Take the following notes and arrange them under topics. Add any material which is necessary to the treatment of each topic.

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