Have you heard how old Mrs. B. is?

William said he reckoned, from certain indications, that she was enjoying right poor health,

Such a quantity of sheep as I saw at Hampstead Heath the other day! I could hardly help looking round to find some shepherd swain who perchance might be tending them, as erewhile men were wont to do in the days of poetry and romance. There was a confliction between the reporterial and managerial functions of the concern.

When young L. made his proposition to leave and locate in the West, his employers began to realize that he was not a party to be spared; so by increasing his salary they induced him to remain, and before many years he was a great success in the way he financed the firm's affairs.

I should admire to do what you propose; but the fact is I have so many matters on the tapis that I am already laboring under an embarras des richesses.

I sent him a postal two weeks ago, and he has just sent me a cablegram in return.

By this time Bill had grown rampageous; in fact he was downright mad at being, as he conceived, so awfully sat upon.

He plead for his home and his family; he claimed that it was destitution that led him to the criminal action; he intimated that mutatis mutandis his prosecutors would do the same.

I think you are real kind to pay attention to the behest of such an insignificant wight as I am.

2. Rewrite the following composition, aiming to make the expression simple and natural, but not slangy or provincial.

Two RIVAL Schools, in sections (8) a not far apart, used every season to contend (6) b on the diamond (7). At the commencement (5) of the year the two nines were naturally much talked up (9), and all sorts of [theories, surmises,

guesses, conjectures? 2] were rife as to which would be proven (4) to have the most sand (9).

e

One spring the odds d seemed all in favor of the school at Easton. Few of the old boys had left (3) at the last commencement, and those who still stopped (2) at the school were all elegant (1, 9) players. Stub Jones was the crack pitcher of the country (1), and he was well backed up (9) by the catcher, Will White. And surely for years no school had seen such an AI (9) f first-base man as Lengthy Mills. Jim Daggett, the captain, was a little too much of a blow (9) to be real (4) pleasant, but he was regarded by all as a very smart (9) leader. On the other hand, the West Templeton nine were rather down in the mouth (9). Its captain, Tom Eddes, though a level-headed chap (9) had never been in it much (9) captaining (4), and he had no less (2) than five raw players to shove through (9) for the campaign. When the season opened he had trained them for all they were worth (9); but while none were so bad (2) as to be a positive disgrace, none could be said to play any great shakes (9) of a game.

The [crucial, decisive, critical? 1] game of the season was played on the Easton field. No one of the home nine had any question but what (4) they would win, especially as they had the advantage of their own ground. On the day of the meets Jim Daggett was everywhere, shooting off his lip in great style (9). To him the game was about (2, 6)h won already.

As the game progressed, however, some little points (1) could be noticed which were calculated (2) to help an expert size up (9) the teams. Lengthy Mills made some phenomenal (2) plays at first base, but he so lost his head (9) at the applause that followed that he made some bad (1)j errors. Stub Jones was pitching a great (1) game; but the West Templeton boys got onto (2) him and pounded him all over the field (7, 9); while the captain had his batters so poorly grouped that no one could be [counted, depended? 2]k on to support the others, In contrast to this loose playing, it was

worth while (1) to look at Tom Eddes's men. [Each, every? 2] one did just as the captain ordered; a word or a look, and the man was in it every time (9). Tom had his batters so elegantly (2, 9) arranged, too, that an uncertain batter would do the least harm by an error (7)1 and the most good by a hit. By the middle of the game it was apparent (1) to all that West Templeton was steadily beating (1) m the Easton boys; at which the latter became so rattled (9) that they went all to pieces (9). And when the game ended seven to two in West Templeton's favor, the home team and their friends were a glum lot (9), you may be sure.

It is the team-work that does the business (9); playing for a brilliant record cannot be depended on to be a success (2).

NOTES TO THE ABOVE. - It will be noted that the slang expressions, wherever they occur, have the fault of not saying enough; they are only a conventional symbol of the thought, but do not express it finely and delicately. This is the great fault of slang, a fault for which its acknowledged raciness does not make up.

a. "In sections" may be omitted without impairing the thought. —b. Use the idiom "try conclusions."—c. This provincialism should be replaced by a more definite word.—d. “Odds" is a good idiom; do not change it. Note the difference in tone between such an idiom and slang.—-e. “Crack” has been a slang term, perhaps, but for the free and natural style of this paper it is admissible usage.-f. In clearing away the slang expression, is any adjective really needed in its place?-g. This verb has passed into usage as a noun, and hence Rule 4 need not be applied. h. Try the idiom "as good as."-i. "Points" is not incorrect, but it is not definite enough; try, e.g. "differences."-j. The same remark applies to both these; they should say more, be more specific.-k. The two words equally good perhaps; it depends on what you want to say, whether regarding them beforehand or at the time of play.—1. "Error" is perhaps unnecessarily technical; for the general reader try "misplay."-m. Not finely enough discriminated in meaning; try "outplaying."

3. Work out the following problems.

Write about some old-fashioned person whom you have met, and imitate his or her provincial ways of speaking.

Describe a boys' or girls' club, and try to discriminate their ways of speaking.

Find the meaning of the following provincialisms: I will take it kind of you; that is a nasty piece of music to play; I disremember to have seen it; shall I assist you to some bread; he took him to do, do

IV. WHAT IS DUE TO GOOD TASTE.

composition may be composed of words quite unobjectionable on the score of accuracy or plainness or current usage, and yet be lacking in good taste: it may be crude where it ought to be graceful and smooth, or affected where it ought to be natural, or tawdry and pretentious where it ought to be plain.

He who would write well, therefore, needs to educate his taste.

Good taste in writing comes in great degree from inborn aptitude, but not wholly, nor will aptitude without training suffice to confer it. To give his natural taste firmness and fineness a writer needs to read the best literature, not merely so as to know it, but so as to feel the beauty, the fitness, the charm, the strength, of a wellchosen word. So words may come to affect him much as music does; for language has its harmonies and discords, as well as its questions of correctness or error, to those whose ears are trained to hear them.

I.

Rules promotive of Taste. The secret of good taste lies preeminently in adaptation. We need to know just what treatment a subject requires, whether high or low, whether simple or elaborate, and to give each idea its fitting dress.

II. Beware of the false garnish of "fine writing."

The most frequent sin against good taste in writing is trying to dress up a common subject or idea in unusual and

high-sounding words. Different names are given to this fault in slang it is called "highfaluten "; printers call it

It is the kind of dialect which cannot bear so word as spade, but is more likely to say "agri

cutural tensil frequently employed for purposes of excavation"; which instead of saying "a great fire" says "a disastrous conflagration"; and rather than say plainly "a man fell" tries to make the assertion less common by saying, "an individual was precipitated." In this manner of writing all the common things of life take on artificial forms.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

The following, from W. W. Story,1 shows the difference between common speech and "fine writing":

"Mr. Jones boldly says to Smith at supper, 'If you say that again, I'll knock you down.' But the newspapers report that he intimated an intention to prostrate his opponent.' Jones also adds that Smith is a blackguard and a rascal. Smith's friends say that Jones alluded to him as not being honorable in his conduct.'"

"Fine writing" often crosses with using less simple words than the subject will bear; see Rule 5. It is to be distinguished from euphemism (Rule 1; page 11 above), which latter, rightly used, has a justification in accuracy.

For an excellent discussion of this vice of "fine writing," with many examples, see Lowell's Biglow Papers, Introduction to Second Series.

Such use of terms beyond the call of the occasion is peculiarly the fault of those who, with little experience in writing, think that the distinction of a subject lies in words about it rather than in its own inherent character.

1 "Conversations in a Studio," vol. ii. p. 386.