Conversation and Composition

1. What is the name of the place in which you live? How did this name originate? Do you think it was well chosen?

2. When did people first settle here? What kind of people? Where did they come from? How did they travel? Why did they choose this place? What names are associated with the settlement? Are these names found in the city or telephone directory now? If so, do they belong to relatives of the early settlers?

3. What is the oldest house still standing? Who built it? For what purpose? Who owns it now? What use is made

of it?

Give the class a real or a word picture of it. 4. What occupations did the early settlers follow? Have these changed? How? Speak of the work of men and of women.

5. What celebrations occur in which all citizens take part ? Describe fully the most interesting one.

6. What monuments, tablets, collections of interesting objects, if any, are there to teach you young people about the history of your home? Learn all that you can from these, from your elders, from books, and from one another, to supply you with thoughts for a composition. Use the title of this lesson as a subject, or select another that you like better.

Exercises.-I. What does the first group of questions ask about? Each of the other groups?

II. Write one or more paragraphs suggested by the above questions.

III. Write, "The Story of a Deserted House."

PICTURE STUDY AND COMPOSITION

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PICTURE STUDY AND COMPOSITION

What is the name of the picture?
Does it seem a good name to you?

Do you know what these street boys are discussing in this obscure corner of Paris? Nothing of greater value than a piece of string! Think what you could add to their discussion. Notice how cleverly the artist has told you of the boys' interest. Faces, limbs, attitudes are so lifelike that you feel sure every boy will presently do some boyish thing.

What will each do, and why will he do it?

Exercises. I. Tell orally and then in writing all that you find in the picture, mentioning: —

1. The time, place, occasion of coming together.

2. The leader.

3. The followers.

4. What is done.

5. How the meeting breaks up.

Arrange what you write in five paragraphs.

II. Give a name to each boy. Tell something he says at the meeting.

Word Study

Do these words express what you see in the picture? Look them up in a dictionary.

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A STORY TO BE RETOLD

There was a little boy of whom Longfellow was very fond, and who came often to see him. One day the child looked earnestly at the long rows of books in the library, and at length said, "Have you got Jack the Giant Killer'?" Longfellow was obliged to confess that his library did not contain that venerated volume. The little boy looked very sorry, and presently slipped down from his knee and went away; but early the next morning, Longfellow saw him coming up the walk with something tightly clasped in his little fists. The child had brought him two cents with which he was to buy a "Jack the Giant Killer" to be his own.

- ANNIE FIELDS, "Authors and Friends." Read this story. Decide upon a good title for it. Tell the story, mentioning these points :

The characters in the story - where they were the little boy's question-Longfellow's answer to it and what it caused the little boy to do.

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HOW QUOTATIONS ARE PUNCTUATED

As you saw in the last lesson, a writer sometimes uses or quotes the exact words of another person. Words so used are called quotations, and when they are written they must be inclosed in quotation marks: 1. James said, "I heard the bell ring."

2. Mother asked, "Who is at the door? 3. James exclaimed, "It's Uncle Sam !"

What separates each quotation from other words?

A LESSON FOR PRACTICE

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What is the quotation in the first sentence? The quotation is a statement; quotation marks inclose the statement and the period with which it ends.

What is the quotation in the second sentence? The quotation is a direct question; quotation marks inclose both question and interrogation point.

What is the quotation in the third sentence? The quotation is an exclamation; quotation marks inclose both quotation and exclamation point.

Written Exercise. - Copy the numbered sentences. Write them from dictation.

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A LESSON FOR PRACTICE

I. Listen to questions asked by two pupils whom your teacher will name. Repeat exactly what each one says. What kind of sentence does each one give? Write each question as a quotation in this form:

asked,

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?"

inquired, "?"

II. Listen to statements made by pupils. Repeat exactly what each pupil says. What kind of sentence does each one give? Write each as a quotation:

Write

III. Listen to exclamations made by two pupils. Are the exclamations complete sentences? each as a quotation; thus,