Suggestions and Exercises page 2

Stevenson leaves unfinished the story of the diver who was pinned down. Imagine you were that diver, and tell the whole story to your father.

The Break-up a Great Drought.

Which are the rain-bearing winds in our country? Are they common? Is serious drought common? Name any inhabited country which suffers frequently from drought. What instrument is most useful in forecasting the weather? What sort of weather do we look for when this instrument "falls"? Do you know how it works? What are some of the signs of drought? What are some signs of approaching rain? Why is the Atlantic called the source of all life? Why did the birds nearly starve? Why was there no hay? Was it a good season for fruit?

Use the following words correctly in sentences: myriads, elapse, declining, parched, aerial, deluded, famine.

Write a description of either a flood or a prolonged frost.

The Great Fire of London.

Give the date of the great fire. Is this passage taken from a diary? What do you call the writer of a diary? Who wrote this one? Was his home in London? From what point did he watch the fire? Why was this (a) a safe and (b) a good point of view.

Sodom was one of the two cities of the plain which God destroyed with brimstone and fire out of heaven (Genesis, xix, 24). What was the name of the other?

How did the fire recall to Evelyn's mind the passage - non enim hic habemus stabilem civitatem - "for here we have no abiding city"? What do you know of Troy? If you knew nothing about it, what could you guess from the reference to it here?

What made the fire burn so fiercely? Would it progress east or west the quicker? Why were the fire engines unable to put it out? For what distance did it light up the whole countryside? How far away could it be seen? Where did people seek safety? Did anyone escape?

Your school was burned down last year. Write out what you put in your diary at the time.

In Time of Plague.

From what kind of book (novel, play, diary, history, romance, etc.) is this passage taken? Who wrote it? During whose reign must he have lived?

What is the date of the first entry referring to the plague? What is the date of the last? Hence form an opinion as to how long it lasted.

What is meant by the Mortality Bill? When does it seem to have been at its height? What is the greatest weekly mortality mentioned?

The author, for the sake of brevity, often misses out a few words - i.e., he uses ellipsis. Write out in good modern English, and without ellipsis, the entry for June 22nd.

Write down in summary form, as for a diary, all the interesting things that have happened to you this week.

In digging among some ruins you find the diary of a man who lived during some stirring time - e.g., the 'Forty-Five Rebellion. Write down the most interesting page from it.

The Punishment of Shah-Pesh.

Why did Khipil deserve to be punished? Did the punishments fit the crime? Which do you think was the worst of them?

What fable did the king tell to Khipil? How does it apply to Khipil's speech about the beautiful site?

Make a summary of the whole story, leaving out the poetical speeches and telling merely what happened.

What is meant by: vantage, requisition, obelisk, balusters, manifest, succour, approbation, dalliance, odorous, sloth, chafing, clemency, stagnant, commentator, loquacious.

Write a short composition describing a new housing scheme in course of erection.

Write a composition on the theme:

A man of words and not of deeds

Is like a garden full of weeds.

A Glinpse of 18th Century England.

Were the fires which are mentioned accidental or were they caused deliberately? What is the name given to deliberate fire-raising? What- motive could anybody have for doing such a tiling? Is it a crime? What was the penalty for most kinds of serious crime in the eighteenth century? When punishments were too severe, people hesitated to inflict them; give two examples of this from the passage. Can you think of more than one reason why the beadle, though thrashed himself, would not strike the offender hard?

What invention had just been made? What country is given the credit of it?

What is meant by: Amazonian, capillary club, concatenation, prognostication? Did Mr. Teedon speak plain English? Simplify the expression, "most inebriating fluids are to him not very attainable."

Write a letter to a friend commenting on some of the interesting things that are happening around you to-day.

The Birth of an Island.

Was the Marae Reef usually above or below the surface of the sea? When could it be most easily located? In what two ways? How did it become less well known as years went on? How was it built up to sea level? What were the "microscopic masons"? How did it, at length, rise above sea level? Why did the turtle come? Is a turtle more at ease on land or in the sea? How can you tell? What were the two slender arms that sprang from the coco-nut? What is meant by migrant birds? Are there any British birds which could be so called? Do you think it was British birds that settled on the island? Where had the man come from? How was he able to live for a time on the island? What do you think the writer means by his last sentence?

Here are eight adjectives and eight nouns. Pair them as in the story: minutest, uncounted, mincing, mushroom, infallible, voracious, unthinkable, living: growth, rock, myriads, fragments, steps, guide, broods, monster.

For each of the following phrases substitute one word which means the same: not able to be described; tempting but out of reach; surrounding as with a girdle; now and then; for the time being; not happening often; for a moment at a time; without stopping. (The words required are in the story).

Write short paragraphs describing (a) the growth of a plant, (b) the rising of the tide, (c) a bird you have watched.

Describe the man's visit to the island as he might have told it to the captain of the schooner.

Tony Bears Witness.

Is Tony educated? Correct his mistakes. Why does Mrs. Hardcastle praise her niece's beauty? What is the difference between "mislaying" and "losing?" What is funny in the conversation of Constance, Tony and Mrs. Hardcastle? What is funny in Tony's keeping on "bearing witness"?

Comparing this scene with that from The School for Scandal one might say that one scene is funny because of what happens and the other because of what is said. Which is which?

Take any poem which is full of speech and has some action (a ballad may be best) and turn it into a little play, dividing it into scenes, and putting in any necessary stage-directions.

Act a scene, either from this book or from a play you have made up.

A Rescue on Everest.

Where is Everest? What had the men in the story been trying to do? What sort of men were in danger?

Were the porters Englishmen? Why did the leaders hesitate about attempting the rescue? Why did they decide to try?

Who were the members of the rescue party? Why were they chosen? Could they help each other in climbing? How? What did each man carry? Who had "crampons," and what were they?

Who brought off the actual rescue? Was he nervous? How did he cheer the porters? Were the rescuers quite unharmed by their great effort? Why was it a pity that this effort had to be made?

Find the meaning of the following words and use them in sentences: casualties, pioneer, crevasse, treadmill, glacier, chimney, marooned, traverse (noun), belay.

The comparison "as a cucumber" expresses coolness. Find comparisons to express quickness, deafness, deadness, whiteness, strength, madness.

Write a composition entitled, "A Tragedy on the Hills."

The End of Caravan.

In what sort of place was the caravan standing? What kept it in position? Were the caravan party at hand or at a distance? Which of them first saw what was going on? Which one made no effort to assist? Who reached the caravan first? Was he in time to do any good?

Explain the following expressions:

"A large, languid pair of scissors."

"It might have reduced them to a sort of red-currant jelly."

"Its blind obedience to gravitation."

"They seemed to be endowed instantaneously with innumerable legs."

Describe the wreck of the caravan from the point of view of either Professor Bowles or William or the hawker or the little girl in charge of the twins.

Write a composition entitled, " A Road Accident I Have Witnessed."

The Sun.

Why is the sun of so great importance to us? Are there in the whole universe any other bodies like the sun? Is the earth a star or a planet? How does it compare in size with the sun? Name another planet. Is it larger or smaller than the earth? What is the angular measure of the sun? How can you tell that the earth's diameter is less than 8,640 miles? What is the appearance of a sun-spot when seen through a telescope? When was the telescope invented? Were sun-spots known earlier than this? What have sun-spots taught us about the sun? Does the whole sun rotate at the same pace? Does the whole earth? Can there be people living on the sun?

Use the following words correctly in sentences: vegetation, unique, astronomer, precisely, typical, disc, intense, phenomenon, uniform, quiescent, seething, temporary, luminous, axis.

Find out what you can about the moon and write a short essay on the subject.

The fight with the Flaming Tinman.

Where did Borrow meet the Tinman? What effect did his appearance have on the fellow? Why did the Tinman force a quarrel on him? How many wives, or morts, did Borrow suppose the Tinman to have? Which of them resented being so-called? Was she a gypsy? Did she know anything about boxing? Was she a "sportsman"?

Which of the two men -was the better boxer? Why could he not overwhelm the other? To what was the victory due, in the end?

Describe, in a paragraph, any gypsy, or travelling pedlar, or tramp, that you have seen.

Describe a fight between two boys or two animals.

A Plea for Peace 1855.

Note the date. What was going on in that year? From what part of the "East" was news expected? Who were "the foe"? What was "this House"? What did it mean to sit upon the Treasury Bench? What post do you think Lord Palmerston occupied in 1855? Why do you think so? What was Bright begging Palmerston to do? How can we tell that his plea was unsuccessful?

The speech is divided into two paragraphs. What is the theme of the first? Of the second? Which appeals most to your feelings? Which was meant to appeal to the self-interest of the hearer? Why does Bright dwell on Palmerston's brilliant career? Why does he call his ambition laudable?

Compose an oration of your own pleading for the abolition of war. (Do not forget all that has happened since 1855).

Learn by heart the first paragraph of Bright's speech.

Story of the Duke of Sussex.

What were the three men who met in the restaurant? About what did they talk? What were their three opinions, respectively, about the feelings that govern people?

How did the first man illustrate his opinion? The second? The third? Who had the best of the argument?

Was it bureaucracy that caused the great crowd to assemble, or was it something else? If you stood stock still in the street and kept pointing at the top of a high building, what do you think would happen? Why did the engineer use so many long technical-sounding words in explaining his conduct?

Here is a story for you to complete. (You will find the whole story in "Charles O'Malley," by Charles Lever; it is very amusing):

The Dublin crowd was both curious and full of sympathy for anyone who was unfortunate. One night a young student stopped in the street and pretended to be talking, through a grating, to some one in a sewer below. When asked what was wrong he replied that a prisoner, escaping from jail, was making for the river, but had lost his way and was now fainting with hunger and fatigue. . .

In Jerusalem at Easter.

Whence did the pilgrims come? In what year? What were some of the places they visited? Why did they have their arms tattooed? Does the author admire the Greek monks? What are his reasons? Who makes sure that the pilgrim shall have some money left after his visit? How is this done? What is meant by the proverb, "ye canna tak' the breeks off a Hielander"? Quote any other proverb you know, and explain its meaning.

"The city was like an ant heap swarming with ants." This kind of comparison is called a simile. Make up similes to describe (a) an aeroplane, (b) a group of children round an ice-cream man, (c) the noise of a siren, or steam whistle.