That was an awfully jolly party that we attended the other day, and the elegant weather made it all the more splendid. The shooting of the colonel was, to say the least of it, unskilful. I have had a bad cold all this week. He bore his sufferings with extraordinary courage. I was not conscious of any change in Richard's appearance, though in his remarks he distinctly alluded to some great calamity. That was a strange casuality that happened yesterday. Three alternatives offered themselves in the case. Many a fictitious writer has the most contemptible opinion of modern society. What can an individual like me do when the great bulk of the people are against him? He gave the man a couple of dollars just for saying he could not remember the details of what had transpired. What do you propose doing to-day? The veracity of the story is unquestioned; what we are most concerned with is the truth of the narrator. This elegant lady was very proud of her carriage. He gave me a receipt for a liniment which he said was excellent to lotion the swelled ankle. You could see any amount of cabs standing about the railway station. Where shall I be liable to find a good atlas of the United States? He has been stopping several weeks at a hotel in London. William has been very ill, but he is some better to-day. You will find the fruit very plenty this season. He stated that he was a friend to every deserving individual. I never witnessed such a scene before. Quite a period transpired before such a feature of the case came up again. The editor said that he did not want Johnson's articles any longer. Can you loan me these books a few days? The thieves who succeeded in burgling that house last night were caught and made to restitute the stolen goods. He reports that he cannot find one of them. I think I have eliminated some truth from this investigation. You are quite mistaken in this judgment. Costly devices of every description were to be seen in the booths. "I expect you had a pleasant time at Newbury last week." "How did you know I had went to Newbury? I did not wire you where I was going." "I was conscious of it through Tompkins, who brought me a verbal report of your trip." A quantity of books and papers laid spread out on the table, and the servant attempted to sit the tray among them; the consequence was that before I had fairly set down to breakfast the whole of the dishes came tumbling to the floor. It was aggravating to encounter his cool assumption that a gentleman demeaned himself by being affable to the poor. The man whom I met in the park was rather dark complected, his hair and beard some grey; and there were certain tokens of suffering in his face. If he sits out to champion this measure he will surely antagonize all the desirable element of his party. He cannot afford so to discord with the principles of his best supporters; and notwithstanding his one-time services to his constituents they will down him at the next election. 2. Rewrite the following short composition, correcting the words according to the notes and the parenthetical references to the rules. Copy and carefully observe the sentence-structure and punctuation, but do not change them. YEARS ago, in the proximity a of my houseb there lived a curious (2) old party (2) known to anybody (3) as old Be-ad. He lived all alone in a tumble-down unpainted residence (1) which was so small that it could hardly have contained more than one apartment (2). It was only one story high; its two windows were filled with old garments and pants (2) to replace (2) the broken glass; its leaky roof was patched with slabs; and instead of a chimney a little piece of stove-pipe, just sticking out at the top, served to carry away the smoke. One (3) never saw the inside of the house. Old Be-ad's avocation (2) was gathering rags, and it was claimed (2) that his place was filled with them; which seemed likelyf (1), from the appearance of things. Whenever old Be-ad appeared at any home (2) in the region (2) the children all ran and hid. Any one who mustered up fortitude (2) to looks from the hiding-place would see only a ragged old man, rather short and stout, with a red face and a frowzy black beard. His voice, which was harsh and cracked, was a main factor (2) of our terror. Many sillyh mothers in the neighborhood used old Be-ad's name as a means of startling (2) their children; if they threatened to have old Be-ad after them the children hurried (2) to behave (2). One day when my brother and I were playing together in a lonely spot by the roadside, we were surprised at hearing old Be-ad's harsh voice say, "That's the way ye dew it, hay?”i and looking up we saw his dirty red face smiling at us and seeming like the face of an ogre. The poor old man was trying to make friends with us; but directly (2) we caught sight of him we ran away. Everybody considered (2) old Be-ad as an eccentric individual (2), a little crazy perhaps, but harmless. Passing his place one day, I saw that the hut was torn down. Old Be-ad had disappeared; and I never knew whether he had passed away from earth1 or had took (4) his departure to some other neighborhood. NOTES TO THE ABOVE. Some of the words here used, while not actually incorrect, should not pass unquestioned. a. What is the best word here, proximity, vicinity, region, or neighborhood? - b. house, home, residence, or domicile?-c. Choose a more particular word, as stuffed, or crammed, and see how much better it sounds. —d. If you use two words here, choose a word that is as particular as pants (or its correction). -e. Place is too general here; use a more specific word. —f. Try the double negative here.g. Choose a word that denotes some particular way of looking.h. Silly, foolish, unwise, or inconsiderate? i. Indicate some par ticular aspect of surprise, — scared, terrified, startled. —j. Keep old Be-ad's words as they are; they imitate his manner of speaking. -k. Would the smile of an ogreish man be expressed by so dignified a term ? See Rule 1. -1. Is the euphemism appropriate here? 3. Work out the following problems. Write a passage about a man who is earnest but injudicious, and use therein the words zeal, fanaticism, energy and enthusiasm. To the following passage supply in proper sense the words labor, work, toil, task, effort, activity: "It was with great that Edward brought himself to his daily --- -; a fact that he could not well understand, for he had always enjoyed every form of But there had come a time when its irk weariness made him regard every day as a day of Characterize in a word a young man who does his duty to his parents, but in such cold way as to deserve no special credit. Write a passage about an invalid and a doctor, using in proper form the past tense or perfect participle of the verbs lie, lay, sit, set, seat. Intimate in euphemistic terms that a person is not cleanly. Make a sentence about visiting a manufactory, using the words survey, inspect, scrutinize, examine. To the following passage supply in proper sense the words esteem, respect, regard, deference, veneration, reverence; "Though Mr. N's views are in many ways opposed to mine, I cannot but pay him the that is due to high character. In private life I him highly; his opinions, too, while they may not always gain my judgment, command my and is certainly due to his superior experience. We naturally moral law when we see it embodied in a great man; it is a touch of that which we accord to the Author of all truth. NOTE. Every student will do well to have at hand a book of Synonyms for constant use in choosing words. Soule's "Dictionary of Synonyms" (published by Lippincott, Philadelphia) is perhaps the most practically useful; it gives copious lists of words, from which in most cases the writer can select the exact term he ought to employ. Smith's "Synonyms Discriminated" (published by Holt, New York), and the old standard Crabb's Synonyms (published by Harper, New York), explain at length and illustrate the various shades of meaning. Much help also may be obtained from the paragraphs of synonyms in Webster's and the Century Dictionary II. WHAT IS DUE TO THE READER. Although it is a writer's first duty to be faithful to his subject, choosing such words as, whether hard or easy, most precisely convey his meaning, it is a duty scarcely less imperative to choose words that his readers will be sure to understand.1 He is working for their 1 The question naturally rises, Why put precision before simplicity – why leave it thus admissible for the writer to use any words presumably too hard for his reader? Because the writer can do much to make it up in another way. His hard subject may be so timely and important, or he may present it in so interesting ‘a manner, that even his unlearned |