Practical English Composition Part 9

For newspaper purposes this method is desirable because it makes a good lead. That is, the first paragraph, and if possible the first sentence, tells the biggest fact about the case. Readers'

attention being thus caught and economized, they get the habit of buying papers.

VII. a.s.signments

1. Write headlines for the models in this chapter.

2. Rewrite the Models in Section II on the plan of that in Section V.

3. Rewrite on the same plan one of Poe's other detective stories, one of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales, Stevenson's _Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ or _The Wrecker_, one of Cooper's novels, or any other thrilling story.

VIII. Cautions

1. Be sure that you have your three situations in the right order.

2. Be exceedingly particular about the Four W's. Make them stand out vividly in each situation.

3. Use the shortest words that will convey your meaning.

4. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. How many does the model contain?

IX. Suggested Reading

Jules Verne's _Mysterious Island_; Robert Browning's _Herve Riel_; Tennyson's _Revenge_; Whittier's _Barbara Frietchie_; Samuel Rogers's _Ginevra_.

X. Memorize

THE WAR-SONG OF DINAS VAWR

The mountain sheep are sweeter, But the valley sheep are fatter; We therefore deemed it meeter To carry off the latter.

We made an expedition; We met an host and quelled it; We forced a strong position, And killed the men who held it.

On Dyfed's richest valley, Where herds of kine were browsing, We made a mighty sally, To furnish our carousing.

Fierce warriors rushed to meet us; We met them, and o'erthrew them: They struggled hard to beat us, But we conquered them, and slew them.

As we drove our prize at leisure, The king marched forth to catch us: His rage surpa.s.sed all measure, But his people could not match us.

He fled to his hall-pillars; And, ere our force we led off, Some sacked his house and cellars, While others cut his head off.

We there, in strife bewildering, Spilt blood enough to swim in: We orphaned many children, And widowed many women.

The eagles and the ravens We glutted with our foemen; The heroes and the cravens, The spearmen and the bowmen.

We brought away from battle, And much their land bemoaned them, Two thousand head of cattle, And the head of him who owned them: Ednyfed, King of Dyfed, His head was borne before us; His wine and beasts supplied our feasts, And his overthrow, our chorus.

THOMAS LOVE PEAc.o.c.k.

CHAPTER IX

BOOK REVIEWS

"A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit."

JOHN MILTON.

I. a.s.signments

1. Write a review of a book of travels.

2. Write a review of a biography.

3. Write a review of a novel.

II. Models

I

FRASER, JOHN FOSTER. _The Amazing Argentine._ Pp. 291, ill.u.s.trated. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. $1.50 net.

This volume should go far to dissipate any idea that there is not much of any consequence south of the Rio Grande besides the Panama Ca.n.a.l. In the story of his journeyings over the length and breadth of this enormous country--twice the size of Mexico--Mr. Fraser paints us a picture of a progressive people, and a country that is rapidly a.s.suming a position as the foremost producer of the world's meat-supply. Stretching from the Atlantic to the Andes Mountains and from north of the Tropic of Capricorn to the Straits of Magellan, it supports 30,000,000 cattle, over 80,000,000 sheep, and 8,000,000 horses. The railroads, in which the British have invested 300,000,000, are among the best equipped in the world, and carry annually 40,000,000 tons of freight, with approximate receipts of 25,000,000. The export trade is advancing by leaps and bounds, and in 1912 the value of wool exports was 50,000,000, live-stock products 35,000,000, and agricultural produce 53,000,000; while the extent of the frozen-meat business may be gaged from the fact that 11,000,000 is invested in freezing-houses. The book is a distinct help to Americans in showing them a little more of the great country that is opening up to their enterprise.--_The Literary Digest_, October 17, 1914.[2]

[2] Reprinted by permission of Funk & Wagnalls Company.

II

LE SUEUR GORDON. _Cecil Rhodes._ 8vo, pp. 345. New York: McBride, Nast & Co. $3.50.

Cecil Rhodes must be looked upon as the Clive of South Africa.

He found that country a land of wilderness and savagery. He transformed it into a fair and industrious province. He possessed the unscrupulous and relentless spirit of such conquerors as Julius Caesar, and he was at the same time a financier of the widest resource. But some nefarious or alleged nefarious transactions which stained his name as a business man and a politician deprived him of royal recognition. He was not only denied a t.i.tle, but even failed to obtain a decoration, and it was not until his death that a magnificent monument was unveiled to his memory in the heart of Rhodesia, a province which he had created and which was named after him.

Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) was born, like so many eminent Englishmen, in the house of a clergyman. Into the forty-nine years of his life he compressed a very stirring chapter of British victory. There was something of the buccaneer in his character when he prompted the notorious Jameson Raid and eventually brought the British Government into conflict with the cunning and ambition of Kruger--Oom Paul, as he was styled. For the bitter and b.l.o.o.d.y Boer War the blame has always been laid upon the shoulders of Rhodes.

Rhodes was an Oxford man and an omnivorous reader. He began by working in the diamond-mines at Kimberley as a common laborer; he ended by becoming manager of the Chartered Company, and ama.s.sing a vast fortune.--_The Literary Digest_, April, 1914.[3]

[3] _Ibid._

III

_Sense and Sensibility._ A Novel. By Jane Austen. London: Egerton. 1811.

Though inferior to _Pride and Prejudice_, this work is about as well worth reading as any novel which, previous to its publication, had been written in the English language. Its interest depends, not on its descriptive and narrative power, but on character portrayal and humor.

Though both lovable girls, the two heroines, Elinor and Marianne, are as imperfect and as different as sisters are apt to be in real life. Vulgar match-making Mrs. Jennings, as Austin Dobson calls her, like many a flesh-and-blood dowager, at first repels us by her foolish prattle and finally wins our respect by her kindness. Sir John Middleton, with his horror of being alone; Lady Middleton, with her horror of impropriety; Miss Steele, who can always be made happy by being teased about the Doctor; Lucy Steele, pretty, clever, not over-fastidious in her principles, and abominably weak in her grammar; Robert Ferrars, whose airs are justly punished by his marriage to Lucy; Mrs.

Ferrars, who contrives to be uniformly unamiable; Mrs. John Dashwood, fit daughter to such a mother; and Mr. John Dashwood, fit husband to such a wife--together form a gallery of portraits of which any author might be proud.