bark, with the right hand he
holds the pounded end. He tries it with a careful twist. It sticks. Back
to his knees it goes and the tap, tap, begins again. When he twists it
again it slips, and the bark comes off smoothly in one piece, while we
breathe a sigh of relief. How white the stick is under the bark! It shines
and looks slippery. Now the boy takes his knife again. He cuts towards the
straight jog where the chip was taken out, paring the wood away, sloping
up to within an inch of the end of the bark. Now he cuts a thin slice of
the wood between the edge of the vertical cut and the mouthpiece.

The whistle is nearly finished. We have all seen him make them before and
know what comes next. Our tongues seek over moist lips sympathetically,
for we know the taste of peeled willow. He puts the end of the stick into
his mouth and draws it in and out until it is thoroughly wet. Then he
lifts the carefully guarded section of bark and slips it back into place,
fitting the parts nicely together.

The willow whistle is finished. There remains but to try it. Will it go?
Does he dare blow into it and risk our jeers if it is dumb?

With all the fine certainty of the Pied Piper the boy lifts the humble
instrument to his lips. His eyes have a far-off look, his face changes;
while we strain eyes and ears, he takes his own time. The silence is
broken by a note, so soft, so tender, yet so weird and unlike other
sounds! Our hands quiver, our hearts beat faster. It is as if the spirit
of the willow tree had joined with the spirit of childhood in the natural
song of earth.

It goes!

--Mary Rogers Miller: _The Brook Book_.
(Copyright, 1902, Doubleday, Page and Co.)

+Theme XCIV.+--_Write an exposition on one of the following
subjects, making use of particulars or details:_--

1. How ice cream is made.
2. The cultivation of rice.
3. Greek architecture.
4. How paper is made.
5. A tornado.
6. Description of a steam engine.
7. The circulatory system of a frog.
8. A western ranch.
9. Street furniture.
10. A street fair.

(Have you used particulars sufficient to make your meaning clear? Have you
used any unnecessary particulars? Why is the arrangement of your topics
easy in this theme?)

+169. Exposition by Cause and Effect.+--When our general statement is in
the form of a cause or causes, the question naturally arises in our mind
as to the effects resulting from those causes. In like manner, when the