2. perhaps I might Λ 3. to the South get a meal but that was all. But if things Λ Λ had grown better it was still desolate and inclement near at hand. (See Sentences, Section 84.) 4. in nine cases out of ten But the people of the inn Λ show themselves friendly and considerate (See Sentences, Section 91.) 5. at last ^ Λ We struck into a wide, white high-road carpeted with noiseless dust. 6. the next moment. And the breeze had gone by and in all the valley Λ nothing moved except our travelling feet. 7. when I came back to the inn for a bit of breakfast the landlady was in the kitchen combing her daughter's hair Λ Λ 8. like toothache My arm ached from perpetual beating Λ 9. without so much as raising her head The mother followed Obstinate and unruly as he was, he could not face an angered father. 66 This," ," said my father, "is the way you respond to my generosity." In the dusk he could barely discern the outlines of the carriage. His anger he might control, but not his selfishness. Rewrite the following sentences, so that the phrases in italics shall stand at the beginning; the phrases in small capitals at the close. In doing this, take pains to keep like things together, unlike apart. 1. We had been landed by two at the mine, the buggy was gone again, and we were left to OUR OWN REFLECTIONS and the basket of cold provender until Hanson should arrive. 2. I suppose once the stream ran splashing down the whole length of the canyon, but now its head waters had been tapped by the shaft at Silverado, and it wandered sunless AMONG THE JOINTS OF THE MOUNTAIN for a great part of its course. 3. A Californian vineyard, one of man's outposts in the wilderness, has its own features. 4. I have rarely been conscious of a stranger thrill than when I raised THAT SINGULAR CREATURE from the stones. 5. TO TASTE THE AIR was good. 6. There was another Scotchman, a resident who, douce, serious, religious man, drove me all about the valley and took as much interest in me AS IF I HAD BEEN HIS SON, for the mere love of the common country. 104. Exercise. Write a theme on one of the following subjects. Look especially to the arrangement of your sentences according to the directions given above. 1. An Experience with a Servant. 2. Selling Tickets. 3. An Exciting Incident at School. 4. Halloween Night. 5. A Visit to a Relative. 6. An Important Telegram and What Came of It. 7. A Deserted House. 105. A study in sentences. Study the forms of sentences in the following passage, and note how effective they are. I had no repugnance then-why should I now have?-to those little, lawless, azure-tinctured grotesques, that, under the notion of men and women, float about, uncircumscribed by any element, in that world before perspective—a china tea-cup. I like to see my old friends-whom distance cannot diminish-figuring up in the air (so they appear to our optics), yet on terra firma still-for so we must in courtesy interpret that speck of deeper blue, which the decorous artist, to prevent absurdity, hath made to spring up beneath their sandals. I love the men with women's faces, and the women, if possible, with still more womanish expressions. Here is a young and courtly Mandarin, handing tea to a lady from a salver-two miles off. See how distance seems to set off respect! And here the same lady, or another-for likeness is identity on tea-cups-is stepping into a little fairy boat, moored on the hither side of this calm garden river, with a dainty mincing foot, which in a right angle of incidence (as angles go in our world) must infallibly land her in the midst of a flowery mead-a furlong off on the other side of the same strange stream! Farther onif far or near can be predicated of their world-see horses, trees, pagodas, dancing the hays. Here a cow and rabbit couchant, and coextensive so objects show, seen through the lucid atmosphere of fine Cathay. From the essay on "Old China" in CHARLES Poverty is a comparative thing. Its poor rents and comings-in are soon summed up and told. Its pretences to property are almost ludicrous. Its pitiful attempts to save excite a smile. Every scornful companion can weigh his trifle-bigger purse against it. Poor man reproaches poor man in the streets with impolitic mention of his condition, his own being a shade better, while the rich pass by and jeer at both. No rascally comparative insults a Beggar, or thinks of weighing purses with him. He is not in the scale of comparison. He is not under the measure of property. He confessedly hath none, any more than a dog or a sheep. No one twitteth him with ostentation above his means. No one accuses him of pride, or upbraideth him with mock humility. None jostle with him for the wall, or pick quarrels for precedency. No wealthy neighbor seeketh to eject him from his tenement. No man sues him. No man goes to law with him. If I were not the independent gentleman that I am, rather than I would be a retainer to the great, a led captain, or a poor relation, I would choose, out of the delicacy and true greatness of my mind, to be a Beggar. Rags, which are the reproach of poverty, are the Beggar's robes, and graceful insignia of his profession, his tenure, his full dress, the suit in which he is expected to show himself in public. He is never out of the fashion, or limpeth awkwardly behind it. He is not required to put on court mourning. He weareth all colors, fearing none. His costume hath undergone less change than the Quakers. He is the only man in the universe who is not obliged to study appearances. The ups and downs of the world concern him no longer. He alone continueth in one stay. The price of stock or land affecteth him not. The fluctuations of agricultural or commercial prosperity touch him not, or at worst but change his customers. He is not expected to become bail or surety for any one. No man troubleth him with questioning his religion or politics. He is the only free man in the universe. CHARLES LAMB: Essays of Elia. CHAPTER VI THE CHOICE OF WORDS 106. Introductory. The modern dictionary contains something like two hundred thousand words. Many of these are used only among the members of a special profession or the students of a special science. Such words are called technical. Many have had their day and have dropped out of the living language. Such words are called obsolete. Still others should never have been invented; there was never any need for them. Those that are left are, at a guess, forty thousand, every one ready for the man who knows enough to use it. Some famous people, it is said, have read the dictionary through, but dictionaries are very long, and, with the exception of the very longest, the information they give about any one word is very scanty. How then can we educate ourselves to use words well? There is only one way. We must train our eyes and ears to be as alert as possible, and we must always express ourselves as accurately as we can in language that we think will seem clear, natural, and pleasant to our hearers. 107. Observation. First we need to observe; to notice the things about |