Suggestions and Exercises page 3

Tell the following story, using direct speech as far as possible, and imitating the story of the monk who refused the piastre:

A gentleman in a crowded bus gave his seat to a woman who sat down without a word of thanks. He asked her to stand up again, as she was sitting on something of his. When she arose he sat down, explaining pointedly that the "something" was his seat.

Let us Now Praise Famous Men.

Pick out as many as you can of the different lands of men who are praised. Give one example of each kind. Which verses would apply to the volunteers at the School of Medicine who " submitted themselves to be bitten " by infected mosquitoes?

Which verse might be chosen to place on a War Memorial?

Which would be a suitable epitaph for the "missing," whose bodies were never identified?

This passage inspired one of Kipling's poems. Try to turn it into verse. (Study, first, the prose version and the metrical version of the 23rd Psalm or the 12ist Psalm.)

The Strategist.

What is meant by "strategy"? Who is the strategist in the story? What is his object? What means does he use to secure it? How often is he unsuccessful? Does he have any success at all? By what means? Why does Rollo not complain to his hostess? Why does he not fight his tormentors? Why does he say, on leaving, that it has been an enjoyable evening? Do you think the Wrotsleys were clever boys? Mention anything they did or said which seems to support your opinion.

Supply the omissions in the following sentences:

(1) Mrs. J. didn't cheapness. (2) Rollo's prospective was absent. (3) His was in the minority. (4) He was in refusing to sit down. (5) Expensive . were provided but not duplicated. (6) Honesty is the best (7) Self-help was her guiding in life. (8) As the chocolates were of course they were not found.

Knit the following sentences into one: He arrived. He heard his friend's sister talking. She was apologizing to the hostess. Her brother was absent. His absence could not be avoided.

Describe Mrs. Jallatt's party from the point of view of one of the Wrotsley boys or one of the girls.

Describe any party you have attended.

London through Indian Eyes 1711.

Were these Indians from India or from America? How can you tell? Why does the Indian king not understand the true way of making a huge building? Does he seem to think the English a religious people? How did they behave in church? Who was the " man in black "? To what political parties did the two guides belong? Did they think well of each other's party? Which party was opposed to kings? Which hated foreigners? What were the "little covered rooms carried by porters"? The "monstrous bush of hair"? The "little black spots"? What other English ways struck the Indians as absurd?

Give adjectives corresponding to: desire, monster, abundance, occasion, angel, industry, religion, reason, guilt.

Give nouns corresponding to: various, prodigious, regular, curious, probable, foreign, ingenious, barbarous, absurd.

Supply the missing prepositions in the following sentences, and correct your own answer by reference to the original passage:

The Kings of Granajah and of the Six Nations believe that it was created the earth, and produced the same day the sun and moon. But my own part, the best information that I could get this matter, I am apt to think that this prodigious pile was fashioned the shape it now bears several tools and instruments which they have a wonderful variety in this country.

An Eskimo boy visits your school. Compose a letter such as he might have written home, describing what he saw.

The Adulteration of Food.

What is meant by adulteration? Why is it done? Why is it wicked? Who is the person best fitted to detect it? How can the chemist tell if water has been added to milk? Who was the first person known to have used this method? Why is skimmed milk heavier than fresh? How can its specific gravity be brought down? How is its colour faked? What is margarine? How can it be distinguished from butter? How can you tell what kind of starch has been mixed with a food-stuff?

Pick out from the passage all the words derived from the same root as "adulterate." State what part of speech each word is, and use each word in a sentence. Write out as many words as you can which have the stem "scope" (Greek, skopein - to look at). Find out, in each case, the full derivation and meaning of the word.

Describe in detail the method used in detecting the adulteration of any one food-stuff.

Describe clearly any scientific experiment you have recently performed.

Scandal.

An "Irish front" means an Irish forehead; a la Chinoise is French for "like a China-woman"; a table d'hote is a common table for guests in a hotel or restaurant; "on ajar" is now an old-fashioned phrase, meaning simply "ajar."

What is the point of the expression, "taking the dust" (compare "taking the air")? What does the stage-direction, "Aside" mean? Are "asides" supposed to be heard by the other players? Note the names of the people: Curricle, Vermilion, Evergreen, Ochre, etc. Why does the author give them such names? Are there any characters in the scene who appear not to like scandal?

Make up an imaginary dialogue in which three or four boys or girls discuss a team of players. (Avoid references to real people.)

Take any piece of conversation from this book or another and write it out in the form of stage dialogue, commencing each speech with the speaker's name, omitting all descriptive matter, and using no inverted commas.

A Horseman in the Sky.

Note the date and the place. What war was going-on? On which side was Virginia? If Carter was a traitor to Virginia, on which side was he? On which side was his father?

At what mark did Carter aim first? Why would it have been well for him to have fired there and then?

Why did he alter his aim? Why did he fire at all? Are you sorry for Carter? Why? In his place, what would you have done? What do you think about war? Why is civil war said to be worse than any other kind?

What is the Apocalypse? When you have discovered this, consult the copy you have at home and see if you can find out what "a horseman in the sky" has to do with it.

Write sentences illustrating the correct use of the following: summit, salient, profile, configuration, leonine, equestrian, aerial, accoutrement, silhouette, cameo, colossal, statuesque, sublimity, bivouac, abraded, obliquely.

Distinguish between: acclivity and declivity; vital and victual; sinuous and sinewy and sinister; impetuous and impetus.

Find the roots of the following and write down other words from the same roots: mandate, vital, scribe, ascended, submission.

Write a paragraph describing a valley in your neighbourhood.

Imagine you lived during any civil war. Write an account of your adventures during a single day.

Speech at Gettysburg, 1863.

Note the date. What war was going on at that time and in that country? In which other passage _ of this book have you read about that war? On which side was the speaker?

What event of "four score and seven years ago" is in Lincoln's mind? What was the "new nation"? For what purpose had Lincoln and his audience visited Gettysburg?

What did he mean when he said that the ground was already hallowed and dedicated? Why was it uncertain whether the men buried there had died in vain? How could the audience make sure that their sacrifice would not have been in vain?

What sort of government is described in the last sentence?

Commit the passage to memory.

Letter to Lord Chesterfield.

In the eighteenth century few writers were able to make a comfortable living by the sale of their books, and men of wealth and title sometimes assisted authors by their favour and support, the authors repaying their patrons by grateful and courtly references to them in their works. Johnson here accuses Lord Chesterfield of seeking to obtain such praises without having done anything to deserve them.

What literary work had Johnson just completed? Had it been easy? (How do you know this?) From whom had he expected assistance? Had he ever sought it? Had he received it? Was he a courtly man by nature?

Point out any sentence in the letter in which Johnson says less than he means. Point out any phrase in which he says the very opposite of what he means. What figure of speech is he using in his general description of a patron as "one who looks with unconcern," etc.

Write down from memory the beginning and end of a letter to an earl. Write a precis (i.e., a shortened version, containing all the main points) of Johnson's letter.

A classmate has offered to do all your homework for you. Write him a letter pointing out that he is very kind but that homework has now stopped for the session and that in any case you are leaving school next week.

Wisdom.

This passage is not prose at all but poetry, written on a different plan, it is true, from that in your poetry-books. Note the repetition of ideas and the repetition of sentence-forms. Note the structure: first the mystery of wisdom is emphasized, then the understanding and the glory of God; last of all, as a climax, comes the answer, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom."

Where was Ophir? What modern poem contains a reference to it? Where is Ethiopia, and what is its other name to-day?

Commit the passage to memory.