4. Write in the third person one of the following stories. Note that instead of the pronoun "I" you will use the proper noun "Daudet," for instance, or the pronoun "he." Be sure that it is always clear to whom the pronoun refers.

THE ARRIVAL

What a journey it was! At the mere recollection of it after thirty years, I can again feel the sensation of cramp, and again my legs seem to be imprisoned in fetters of ice. For two days I was cooped up in a third-class carriage, in light summer clothing, in bitterly cold weather.

I was just sixteen; I came from far away, from the farthest corner of Languedoc, where I had been usher in a school. I was coming to Paris in order to devote myself to literary work. When I had paid my railway fare, I was left the exact sum of forty sous in my pocket!

But why should I be worried or anxious? Was I not rich in anticipation? I even forgot to be hungry, notwithstanding the tempting array of tarts and sandwiches which decked the buffet at the railway stations; I was determined not to change that precious coin carefully hidden away in the innermost recess of my pocket. However, towards the end of our journey, when the train, groaning and tossing us from side to side, was bearing us across the dreary plains of the flat Champagne country, I very nearly fainted. My traveling companions, sailors, who had been whiling away the time with singing, offered me a restorative. What fine fellows! How harmonious seemed their rough duties! and how good their hospitality to one who had not tasted food for eight and forty hours!

At last, a sound of wheels clanking on the turn-tables, a gigantic dome overhead blazing with light, doors banging, luggage vans clattering on the pavement, a restless, busy crowd, custom-house officers-in fact, Paris.

"Thirty Years of Paris," Alphonse Daudet.

5. Note the resolution of the boy in the face of hunger. What kind of railway carriages do they have in France?

What is the Champagne country like? How were the sailors dressed?

6. ORAL. Give as interesting an account as you can of your first journey. Try to tell your story in as good proportion as did the writers of the preceding selections. They put more time on the important incidents than they did on the unimportant.

7. Suppose that at the age of fifteen it becomes necessary for you to make your own way in the world. You arrive in New York City with fifteen dollars in your pocket. Write a theme telling what happens to you.

HOW LINCOLN EARNED HIS FIRST DOLLAR

It was a custom among the farmers of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois at this date (1826) to collect a quantity of produce, and float down to New Orleans on a raft, to sell it. Young Lincoln saw this, and wanted to try his fortune as a produce merchant. An incident of his projected trip he related once to Mr. Seward.

"Seward," he said, "did you ever hear how I earned my first dollar?"

"No," said Mr. Seward.

"Well," replied he, "I was about eighteen years of age, and belonged, as you know, to what they call down south the 'scrubs'; people who do not own land and slaves are nobody there; but we had succeeded in raising, chiefly by my labor, sufficient produce, as I thought, to justify me in taking it down the river to sell. After much persuasion I got the consent of my mother to go, and had constructed a flatboat large enough to take the few barrels of things we had gathered to New Orleans. A steamer was going down the river. We have, you know, no wharves on the western streams, and the custom was, if passengers were at any of the landings, they were to go out in a boat, the steamer stopping and taking them on board. I was contemplating my new boat, and wondering whether I could make it stronger

or improve it in any part, when two men with trunks came down to the shore in carriages, and looking at the different boats, singled out mine, and asked, 'Who owns this?' I answered modestly, 'I do.' 'Will you,' said one of them, ‘take us and our trunks out to the steamer?'

"Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have the chance of earning something, and supposed that each of them would give me a couple of bits. The trunks were put in my boat, the passengers seated themselves on them, and I sculled them out to the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted the trunks and put them on the deck.

The steamer was about to put on steam again, when I called out, 'You have forgotten to pay me.' Each of them took from his pocket a silver half dollar and threw it on the bottom of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day, that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time."

"The Life of Lincoln," Ida M. Tarbell.

8. ORAL. Tell the class in as interesting a manner as possible how you earned your first money.

SECTION IV. THE COMMA FAULT

A simple sentence consists of a single subject and a single predicate, either or both of which may be compound; for example, "Howard was a great philanthropist."

A compound sentence consists of two or more coördinate propositions; for example, "Howard was a great philanthropist; he spent his life reforming English prisons."

The following paragraph is made up of simple sentences: "In those dear days I was not Daniel Eyesette. I was

the shipwrecked Crusoe. My clothing was transformed to the skin of wild beasts. I spent my evening poring over the enchanting volume. I learned my Robinson by heart. The following day I acted it with enthusiasm. The manufactory became my desert island. The large vats were the ocean. The garden became a primeval forest. The very grasshoppers on the trees were called on to play their parts. But they never knew it." Adapted from Daudet.

These simple sentences may, however, be combined into several compound sentences. In that case, each proposition will be followed not by a period, but by a semicolon.

"In those dear days, I was not Daniel Eyesette; I was the shipwrecked Crusoe. My clothing was transformed into the skins of wild beasts; I spent the evening poring over the enchanting volume; I learned my Robinson by heart; the following day I acted it with enthusiasm. The manufactory became my desert island; the large vats were the ocean; the garden became a primeval forest; the very grasshoppers on the trees were called on to play their párts, but they never knew it."

If these propositions be connected by "and" or "but,” as the sense may require, a comma may be used instead of a semicolon.

RULE. In a compound sentence place a semicolon between propositions which are not connected by a conjunction. To violate this rule is to commit the "comma fault"; it consists in substituting a comma for a semicolon or a period.

NOTE. As soon as this point is mastered, see also Rule 9, page 213.

In the following sentences commas are incorrectly used for semicolons:

"The strangers were a long time on my island, they explored it thoroughly. I saw them enter my grotto, occasionally they would stop and shake their heads."

Exercises

I. Punctuate properly the following:

After Arthur had proved his prowess in his contest with the eleven kings, he decided to establish his court and the Order of the Round Table the place he chose was the city of Camelot in Wales which had a good situation being built upon a hill he called the wise Merlin and ordered him to make a great palace on the summit of the hill through his powers of enchantment Merlin was able to do this very quickly within a week the king and his personal attendants were settled in the palace

The main part consisted of a great assembly hall built of white marble the roof of which seemed to be upheld by pillars of green and red porphyry the outside walls of the hall were covered with beautiful rows of sculpture the lowest row represented wild beasts slaying men the second row represented men slaying wild beasts the third represented warriors who were peaceful good men the fourth showed men with growing wings over all was a winged statue with the face of Arthur Merlin meant to show by means of the first row that formerly evil in men was greater than good by the second that men began to conquer evil in themselves their victories in time causing them to become really good noble and peace-loving men as in the third row and finally that through the refining influence of good King Arthur and his wise helpers men would grow to be almost as perfect as angels. Maude L. Radford.

SECTION V. REALITY BY MEANS OF DETAILS

The Awakening of Great Men

HOW CAEDMON BECAME A POET

More than a thousand years ago in the town of Whitby lived an elderly peasant, Caedmon, on some of the Abbey lands. All his life long he had patiently done his humble work, expecting no reward or honor, content humbly to serve. It was the custom, in those days, for all those who