EASY NARRATIVES.1

51. When writing a story which you have read or heard, observe the following directions:

(1) Before beginning to write, think over the whole story, to make sure that you remember all the points, and the order in which they come.

Neglect of this direction may cause you to omit something or to put something in the wrong place.

(2) Before beginning to write each sentence, arrange the whole of it in your mind.

If you neglect this direction you may find that the second part of a sentence goes badly with the first, or that you cannot finish at all a sentence such as you have begun. Here is an example :—

I am desired to inform the Court of Aldermen that Mr. Alderman Gill died last night by order of Mrs. Gill.

The words printed in italics could not have been in the mind of the writer when he began, or he would have placed them after desired, or (better still) he would have said 'I am desired by Mrs. Gill.'

(3) Make short sentences.

Beware of using and and so too often. Avoid such a sentence as the following:

Once upon a time there was a fox and he went into a vineyard and there he saw many bunches of beautiful ripe grapes hanging on high and he tried to reach them and he could not jump high enough and so he turned to go and said It does not matter; the grapes are sour.'

Such a sentence ought to be divided into several; thus:

A fox once went into a vineyard. There he saw many bunches of beautiful ripe grapes hanging on high. He tried to reach them, but found that he could not jump high enough. As he turned to go he said, 'It does not matter; the grapes are sour.'

See 'Notes for Teachers,' Note 5.

The following sentence has several faults besides its length :

He [Swinton] did with a sort of eloquence that moved the whole House lay out all his own errors and the ill spirit he was in when he committed the things that were charged on him with so tender a sense that he seemed as one indifferent what they should do with him, and without so much as moving for mercy or even for a delay he did so effectually prevail on them that they recommended him to the king as a fit object of his mercy.BURNET: History of his Own Time.

It is amended somewhat by division into shorter sentences, thus:

With a sort of eloquence that moved the whole House he did lay out all his own errors and the ill spirit that he was in when he committed the things that were charged on him. He spoke with so tender a sense that he seemed as one indifferent what they should do with him. Without so much as moving for mercy or even for a delay he did so effectually prevail on them that they recommended him to the king as a fit object for mercy.

(4) Use no word of which you do not know the exact meaning.

Neglect of this rule led someone to write :

The music was completely drowned by a tremendous ovation' which rent the air.

(5) Do not use long words if you can find short ones.

The barber who advertised himself as 6 a first-class tonsorial artist and facial operator,' meant only that he could cut hair and shave well. (6) Arrange the different parts of each sentence so that they eonvey the meaning which you intend.

The following sentence is badly arranged :—

He tells stories which Mountain would be shocked to hear after dinner.THACKERAY: The Virginians.

Mountain would be shocked to hear them at any time. To convey the author's meaning the sentence should be:

After dinner he tells stories which Mountain would be shocked to hear.

(7) When you have written your story, always read it over, and correct all the mistakes which you can find.

1 A Roman general coming home victorious was granted the honour of a triumph' or the lower honour of an "ovation,' in which a sheep (Latin, ovis) was sacrificed. How an ovation could be tremendous, how it could rend the air, or how it could drown music is impossible to say.

D

SHORT STORIES

to be read carefully, and then written from memory.

The Fox and the Goat.

A fox that had fallen into a well tried in vain to get out again. By-andby a goat came to the place to quench her thirst. Seeing the fox below she asked if the water was good. 'Yes,' answered the cunning creature, 'it is so good that I cannot leave off drinking.' Thereupon the goat, without a moment's thought, jumped in. The fox at once scrambled on her back and got out. Then, looking down at the poor fool, he said coolly, 'If you had half as much brains as beard, you would look before you leap.'

The Vain Jackdaw.

A vain jackdaw found some peacocks' feathers and stuck them amongst his own. Then he left his old companions and boldly went amongst the peacocks. They knew him at once, in spite of his disguise; so they stripped off his borrowed plumes, pecked him well, and sent him about his business. He went back to the daws as if nothing had happened, but they would not allow him to mix with them. If he was too good for them before, they were too good for him now. Thus the silly bird, by trying to appear better than he was, lost his old friends without making any new ones.

The Ant and the Grasshopper.

One frosty day a grasshopper, half dead with cold and hunger, knocked at the door of an ant, and begged for something to eat. 'What were you doing in the summer?' asked the ant. 'Oh, I was singing all the time.' 'Then,' said the ant, 'if you could sing all the summer you may dance all the winter.'

The Wolf and the Lamb.

A wolf, coming to a brook to drink, saw a lamb standing in the stream, some distance down. He made up his mind to kill her, and at once set about finding an excuse. 'Villain,' he said, 'how dare you dirty the water which I am drinking?' The lamb answered meekly, 'Sir, it is impossible for me to dirty the water which you are drinking, because the stream runs from you to me, not from me to you.' 'Be that as it may,' replied the wolf, 'you called me bad names a year ago.' 'Sir,' pleaded the lamb, 'you are mistaken; a year ago I was not born.' 'Then,' said the hungry beast, 'if it was not you it was your father, and that is as bad. It is of no use trying to argue me out of my supper.' Thereupon he fell upon the poor creature and ate her up.

A shepherd boy was tending his flock near a village. Several times he cried 'Wolf!' without cause, and when the villagers ran to help him he only laughed at them for their pains. At last a wolf really did come, and the boy called out in earnest. The neighbours heard him, but, thinking he was at his old tricks, they took no notice, and many sheep were killed. Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.

What the Bear said.

As two friends were travelling through a wood, a bear rushed out upon them. One of the men, without a thought to his companion, climbed up into a tree, and hid among the branches. The other, knowing that alone he had no chance, threw himself on the ground, and pretended to be dead; for he had heard that bears will not touch a dead body. The creature came and sniffed him from head to foot, but, thinking him to be lifeless, went away without harming him. Then the man in the tree got down, and, hoping to pass his cowardice off with a joke, he said, 'I noticed that the bear had his mouth very close to your ear; what did he whisper to you?' 'Oh,' answered the other, 'he only told me never to keep company with those who in time of danger leave their friends in the lurch.'

Bad Company.

A farmer who had just sown his fields placed a net to catch the cranes that came to steal his corn. After some time he went to look at the net, and in it he found several cranes and one stork. 'Oh, sir, please spare me,' said the stork; 'I am not a crane, I am an innocent stork, kind to my parents, and The farmer would hear no more. 'All that may be very true,' he said, but it is no business of mine. I found you amongst thieves, and you must suffer with them.'

Mercury and the Woodmen.

A woodman was working beside a deep river when his axe slipped, and fell into the water. As the axe was his living, he was very sorry to lose it, and sat on the bank to weep. Mercury, hearing his cries, appeared to him, and, finding what was the matter, dived, and brought up a golden axe. 'Is this the one which you lost?' asked the god. 'No,' said the woodman. Then the god dived a second time, and brought up a silver axe, and asked if that was the one. The woodman again answered 'No.' So Mercury dived a third time, and then he brought up the axe which had been lost. That is mine,' cried the woodman joyfully. The god gave it to him, and presented him with the other two as a reward for his truth and honesty.

One of the woodman's neighbours, hearing what had happened, determined to see if he could not have the same good luck. He went to the bank of the river, began to fell a tree, purposely let his axe slip into the water, and then pretended to cry. Mercury appeared as before, dived, and brought up a golden axe. The man, in his eagerness to grasp the prize, forgot to act as his neighbour had done; so when the god asked 'Is that yours?' he answered 'Yes.' To punish him for his lying and dishonesty, the god would neither give him the golden axe nor find his own.

The Milkmaid.

A country maid was walking to the town to sell some milk, which she carried in a pitcher on her head. As she went along she said to herself, ‘I have already fifty eggs at home; with the money which I get for my milk I will buy fifty more. These hundred eggs cannot fail to bring me at least eighty chickens. The chickens will be ready for market just when poultry is dearest, so that they will sell for a good sum. With the money I will get me a new gown, and when I wear it at the fair the young fellows will want to dance with me, but I will turn from each with a toss of the head.' As she said these words she could not help giving her head a toss, when down fell pitcher, milk, eggs, poultry, gown, sweethearts, and all. Count not your chickens before they are hatched.

Bell the Cat.

The mice held a meeting to consider what they should do to save themselves from the cat. Several plans were talked over but not one seemed worth much. At last a young mouse proposed that a little bell should be hung round the cat's neck, so that whenever she was coming they would hear her, and could run into their holes. This proposition was much applauded, till an old mouse, that had not hitherto spoken, asked quietly who was going to bell the cat.

Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Siddons.

Dr. Johnson always spoke scornfully of actors and actresses, but he treated the famous actress, Mrs. Siddons, with great politeness. She called on him, and his servant could not readily find a chair for her. 'You see, madam,' said the doctor wherever you go no seats can be got.'

'I was

An ignorant Englishman once visited Paris. After his return he was talking to some of his friends about the wonders which he had seen. most surprised,' he said, 'with the cleverness of the children. Boys and girls of seven or eight spoke French quite as easily as the children in this country speak English.'