that plot of
ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in
him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he
can do, nor does he know until he has tried.... What I must do is
all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally
arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole
distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder
because you will always find those who think they know what is your
duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after
the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with
perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.--_Self-Reliance._

SELECTIONS FOR INTERPRETATION

By choosing as further material for vocal interpretation selections
which shall also be good examples for examination as to their literary
construction, we shall serve the double purpose of adapting our studies
in vocal interpretation to the uses of English composition.

The following selections are to be: first, read aloud (in class);
second, examined as to their literary construction (in class); third,
analyzed and reported upon as specimens of exposition and argumentation
(in the study).

Exposition is an explanation, a setting forth, or an expounding. It
is an attempt to render something plain, an effort to convey to the
reader a train of thought which represents the conclusions of the
writer upon a subject. The writer, it is at once evident, must be
acquainted with the subject with which he deals. He is presuming to
teach, and must be in a position which justifies him in so doing.
He is prepared to write an exposition only when he is able, in
regard to the topic in hand, to take frankly and unreservedly the
attitude of a teacher.

A teacher must have many good gifts and graces; and whoever else
may fail to be well acquainted with a given lesson, he must have
mastered it thoroughly. To teach he must first know. Whoever has
taught understands how completely different is the attitude of the
teacher from that of the pupil. While the pupil is hardly expected
to be able to do more than reasonably well to understand the
subject in hand, the teacher must be able to explain, to justify,
to make clear relations, and to imp