he story. It must be an
expected surprise. If it cannot be accounted for by the causes at work
in the story, the construction is faulty. In the world of fiction
there is not the liberty one experiences in the world of fact. There
things unexpected and unexplainable occur. But the story-teller has no
such privilege. Truth is stranger than fiction dare be. A simple,
natural story, with few characters and covering but a short period of
time, has three elements of success.

Paragraph structure, sentence structure, and choice of words are taken
up in subsequent chapters. Of paragraphs it may be wise to say that
there will be as many as there are divisions in the outline; and
sometimes, by reason of the length of topic, a subdivision may be
necessary. The paragraph most common in narration is the paragraph of
details, the first form presented in the chapter on paragraphs. What
needs to be said of sentences has already been said when treating of
movement. Of words one thing may be suggested. Choose live words,
specific words, words that have "go" in them.

It should be remembered that everything cannot be learned at once. The
study of the whole is the principal occupation just now. Select the
main incident; choose other incidents to be consistent with it; start
out at once giving the conditions of the story; proceed now fast, now
slow, as the thought demands, arriving at a conclusion that is an
expected surprise, the result of forces at work in the story.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

The questions are only suggestive. They indicate how literature can be
made to teach composition. Some questions may seem hard, and will
provoke discussion. To have even a false opinion, backed by only a few
facts, is better than an entire absence of thought. Encourage
discussion. The answers to the questions have not been suggested in
the questions themselves. The object has been to throw the pupil upon
his own thinking.

These questions upon the "Method of the Author" should not be
considered until the far more important work of deriving the "Meaning
of the Author" has been finished. Only after the whole piece has been
carefully studied can the relation of the parts to the whole be
understood. Reserve the questions for the review.

QUESTIONS.

THE GREAT STONE FACE.
(Riverside Literature Series, No. 40.)

In what paragraphs is the main in