4. The - 6. The -. 8. Our of a City House. 3. The Log Hut of the Pioneers. Toll-gate House on the Road. 5. The Tavern at Country Store at Corners. 7. The Bridge at Street. 9. Our Village (or Town, or City). 10. A Mysterious House. II. A Lumberman's Camp. 12. The Gypsy Encampment. 13. The Soldiers' Encampment. 14. A Visit to one's Birthplace. CHAPTER V.-NATURE-LANDSCAPE, ETC. LESSON LII. MEMORIZATION.-FROM "THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER.” The mill-dam rushing down with noise, The pool beneath it never still, The very air about the door Made misty with the floating meal. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson. THEME: A BROOK. Our first essay [in fishing] was along a mountain brook, among the Highlands of the Hudson. It was one of those wild streams that lavish, among our romantic solitudes, unheeded beauties, enough to fill the sketch-book of a hunter of the picturesque. Sometimes it would leap down rocky shelves, making small cascades, over which the trees threw their broad balancing sprays; and long nameless weeds hung in fringes from the impending banks, dripping with diamond drops. Sometimes it would brawl and fret along a ravine in the matted shade of a forest, filling it with murmurs, and after this termagant career, would steal forth into open day with the most demure face imaginable; as I have seen some pestilent shrew of a housewife, after filling her home with uproar and illhumour, come dimpling out of doors, swimming and curtsying, and smiling upon all the world. How smoothly would this vagrant brook glide, at such times, through some bosom of green meadow-land among the mountains; where the quiet was only interrupted by the occasional tinkling of a bell from the lazy cattle among the clover, or the sound of a woodcutter's axe from the neighbouring forest. -Washington Irving. From "The Sketch-Book." EXERCISE I.-Draw up an outline of this descriptionTheme, General Introduction, Details. EXERCISE II.-The description of a brook involves (i) noise, (ii) variable movement, (iii) beauty. Write down in these classes the expressions that indicate these features of the scene. COMPOSITION I. Draw a map of the course of any small stream you know, from its source down, marking farms, townships, villages on its banks, and its end in lake or river. State briefly and accurately the particulars of its course-source, direction, length, volume, nature of the country it traverses. COMPOSITION 2.-Describe, after Irving, a mountain brook. LESSON LIII. MEMORIZATION.-LOCH KATRINE, FROM LAKE." "THE LADY OF THE The broom's tough roots his ladder made, The hazel saplings lent their aid; And mountains, that like giants stand, To sentinel enchanted land.-Sir Walter Scott. STYLE: FORCE-(Continued). 2. Order of Words.-See p. 115. 3. Brevity.—An important source of force lies in the number of words employed. The great virtue of writing, in this respect, is brevity; use just words enough. for the full expression of the idea. If we are diffuse and prolix, we weaken the impression of the thought. 4. Amplification.-At times, the idea calls for amplification, by repetition of words and periphrasis. Alone, all, all alone! Thou noteless blot upon a remembered name! 5. Contrast.-Force is gained by the use of contrast: This may be play to you, 'tis death to us. Many are called, but few are chosen. EXERCISE. Use one or other of these means of force to strengthen the following:-(1) I would never lay down my arms. (2) The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways--I to die and .... (3) This is the sum and substance, the .... of the gospel. (4) Courage graces a man but money, the .... brings .... .... him. (5) The miser hoards . it. (6) Idleness brings poverty, but (7) She looked pale and weak-looking. (8) The people I come in contact with are not blessed with the world's goods. (9) The Prince of Wales will be the future king of England. (10) The poet is born, the poet is not made. COMPOSITION 1.-By the Creek. Theme and General Introduction.-Give the theme, time of day, and point of view from where you see the scene. Details. A quiet stream, bordered by rushes and trees. Mossy stones. Birds. Boy fishing. Cattle standing in the water drinking, or winding their way down to the stream. Conclusion.-A thought on the beauty of the scene. COMPOSITION. 2.-Describe the scene in this picture. COMPOSITION 3.-Choose a point of view on any lake or bay, or seashore that you know, and describe the scene visible at that point. LESSON LIV. MEMORIZATION. FROM "MICHAEL." If from the public way you turn your steps Who journey thither find themselves alone With a few sheep, with rocks and stones, and kites It is in truth an utter solitude. 1 narrow mountain gully. -William Wordsworth. THEME: THE CATSKILLS. Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson, must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are membered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains; and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed with blue and purple, and print their bold outlines in the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapours about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory. |