What are these but the sister fami

robes of the rice fields.
lies of one greater, better, holier family, Our Country.

From "Our Country." - GRIMKÉ.

It was not his olive valleys and orange groves which made the Greece of the Greek; it was not for his apple orchards or potato fields that the farmer of New England and New York left his plow in the furrow and marched to Bunker Hill, to Bennington, to Saratoga. A man's country is not a certain area of land, but it is a principle, and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.

From "Nations and Humanity."— CURTIS.

Commands are often made particularly emphatic by the

use of the negative form.

1. "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty."

2.

"Thou shalt not steal."

3. "Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider."

Tell what quality is gained by the use of negatives in the following:

There is a just

1. We shall not fight our battle alone. God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battle for us. The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. - PATRICK HENRY.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that. is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.-BIBLE.

3. Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.

4. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. PSALMS.

Often definiteness and emphasis is given to language by stating what something is not, as in the following:

Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Nor with the roll of the stirring drums
And the trumpet that sings of fame.

Not as the flying come,

In silence, and in fear,

They shook the depths of the desert gloom
With their hymns of lofty cheer.

From "Landing of the Pilgrims."- FELICIA D. HEMANS.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind

Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.

Often a fact may be more definitely and emphatically stated by first stating the opposite by means of a negative, as in the following:

"Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love."

"To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we

can.

'Tis not wealth that makes a king,
Nor the purple coloring;
Nor a brow that's bound with gold,
Nor gate on mighty hinges rolled.

The king is he, who, void of fear,
Looks abroad with bosom clear;
Who can tread ambition down,
Nor be swayed by smile or frown;
Nor for all the treasure cares,
That mine conceals, or harvest wears
Or that golden sands deliver,
Bosomed in a glassy river.

What shall move his placid might?
Not the headlong thunder light,
Nor all the shapes of slaughter's tread,
With onward lance, or fiery blade,
Safe, with wisdom for his crown,
He looks on all things calmly down;

He welcomes fate when fate is near,
Nor taints his dying breath with fear.
No to fear not earthly thing,
This it is that makes the king;
And all of us, who'er we be,

May carve us out that royalty.

Exercises

I. Change any of the following positive statements to the negative form when you think such change will improve the language by giving variety or emphasis:

1. The swan is the most graceful of our water birds.

2. The streamlet whispered a sleepy little tune as it wandered on toward the river.

3. The poet Longfellow was fond of children, and always treated them with kindness when they came to see him. 4. The spring has come upon us suddenly, and the buds have opened as if by magic.

5. We might say of our robin, that his sky is always clear, and his song is full of joy.

6. The ravines in the mountains are so deep that they are always dim and gloomy.

7. After many years' absence the poet returned to find the brooks the same as in his boyhood days.

8. Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy; and he who rises late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night, while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.

9. Only that man can safely govern who can cheerfully become a subject, and only that man should command who has learned to obey.

10. Every social, political, and religious privilege which we enjoy to-day was bought for us by the tears, the blood, and the suffering of the faithful few.

11. What, then, is our flag? It is more than a piece of painted cloth. It is a whole national history. It is the constitution. Remember what it means, and for the sake of what it stands be true to your country.

12. Abraham Lincoln believed that the country could be saved only on the principle laid down in the Declaration of Independence.

II. Select and bring to the class examples of statements, commands, and questions in which negatives are used, and discuss their effectiveness.

III. Change the form of any of the sentences in the following where you can by the use of a negative:

THE DESTINY OF OUR COUNTRY

The government is mild. The press is free. Religion is free. Knowledge reaches or may reach every home. What fairer prospects of success could be presented? What means more adequate to accomplish the sublime end? What more necessary than for the people to preserve what they themselves have created?

Already has the age caught the spirit of our institutions. It has already ascended the Andes and snuffed the breezes of both oceans. It has infused itself into the life-blood of Europe, and warmed the sunny plains of France and the low sands of Holland. It has touched the philosophy of Germany and the north, and moving onward to the south, has opened to Greece the lessons of her better days.

Can it be that America, under such circumstances, can betray herself? That she is to be added to the catalogue

of republics, the inscription upon whose ruin is, "They were, but they are not?" Forbid it, my countrymen ! forbid it, Heaven!

I call upon you, fathers, by the shades of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, by all you are and all you hope to be, resist every object of disunion; resist every encroachment upon your liberties; resist every attempt to fetter your consciences, or smother your public schools, or extinguish your system of public instruction.

From "Destiny of our Country." -JOSEPH STORY.

SECTION XXXII

The Use of Comparison

Often a thought instead of being expressed in a direct or a negative form may be presented in the form of a comparison. The use of comparison not only gives variety to language, but by its use, beauty, clearness, and vigor may often be added to it, as well. Comparison is a form of expression which is much used in both oral and written composition, therefore a careful study of comparison will enable you to interpret the writings of others, and at the same time help you to express thought with readiness and clearness. Comparison is a most natural form of expression, for in our efforts to make our meaning clear or our statements convincing, it is natural for us to seek something with which to compare the thing about which we are speaking. For example, if we wish to tell of the great strength of some one, we may feel that to simply say that he is very strong does not express with sufficient accuracy or in strong enough language the meaning we wish to convey; and therefore we seek something, the strength of which is well known, with which to make a comparison. Thus the poet, when wishing to give a vivid idea of the strength of the blacksmith's arm, says: