t; appearance of the lady. Title: Who
was the Criminal?

22. A story of a modern Sir Launfal.

23. The most thrilling moment of my life.

24. Tell the whole story suggested by the stanza of "A Nightingale in
the Study," by Lowell, which begins, "Cloaked shapes, a twanging of
guitars."

25. Write a story which teaches a lesson. Remember that the lesson is
in the story, not at its end.

In the work at this time but little attention can be given to the
teaching of paragraphs and sentences. The pupil should learn what a
paragraph is, and should have his composition properly divided into
paragraphs. But the form and massing of paragraphs cannot be taken up
at this time. The same may be said of sentences. He should have no
sentences broken in two by periods; nor should he have two sentences
forced into one. Grammatical errors should be severely criticised.
However, the present work is to get the pupils started; and they
cannot get started if there is a teacher holding them back by
discouraging criticisms. Mark all mistakes of whatever kind; but put
the stress upon the whole composition: its unity, its coherence, its
mass, and its movement. Everything cannot be done at once; many
distressing faults will have to be passed over until later.

* * * * *

CHAPTER IV

DESCRIPTION

Difficulties of Language for making Pictures.

Description has been defined as the form of literature which presents
a picture by means of language. In the preceding chapter, it has been
pointed out that the sequence of language is perfectly adapted to
detail the sequence of action in a narrative. For the purpose of
constructing a picture, the means has serious drawbacks. The picture
has to be presented in pieces; and the difficulties are much as would
be experienced if "dissected maps and animals" used for children's
amusement were to be put together in the head. It would not be easy to
arrange the map of the United States from blocks, each containing a
small part of it, taken one at a time from a box. Yet this closely
resembles the method language forces us to adopt in constructing a
picture. Each phrase is like one of the blocks, and introduces a new
element into the picture; from these phrases the reader must
reconstruct the whole. This means not alone that he shall remember
them all, but there is a more serious trouble: he must oft