out the ages as man's highest gift. Rightly pursued, the study of composition should be full of interest, educing and fostering mental life in the growing child. To that aim this book is humbly dedicated.

PART I.-NARRATION.

CHAPTER I.-FABLES.1

LESSON I.

I. Memorize:-FROM "RECOLLECTIONS OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS."

When the breeze of a joyful dawn blew free

In the silken sail of infancy,

The tide of time flow'd back with me,
The forward-flowing tide of time;
And many a sheeny summer-morn,
Adown the Tigris I was borne,
By Bagdat's shrines of fretted gold,
High-walled gardens green and old;
True Mussulman was I and sworn,
For it was in the golden prime
Of good Haroun Alraschid.

-Alfred Tennyson.

II. Theme: THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.

One autumn day, when the grapes were ripe, a fox stole into a vineyard. Spread out on trellises above him were great masses of luscious grapes, and he longed for a bunch. He made many a jump, but the grapes were high, and he could not reach them. Tired out at last, he said to him

1 REFERENCES FOR READING. Joseph Jacobs, The Fables of Æsop; The Fables of La Fontaine, translated by Lestrange.

self, "Ugh! I don't care. The grapes are sour anyway!" and made off.

III. Oral Composition.-1. Express in different words: (1) The fox stole into a vineyard. (2) The grapes were spread out on trellises. (3) He longed for one of the luscious bunches. (4) He was tired out. (5) The grapes are sour anyway. (6) He made off.

2. Exercises of Invention.-Imitate the fable above in telling the story of (1) The Cow and the Clover-field. (2) The Boy and the Football-team. (3) The Man and the position on the Railway. (4) The Girl and the Diamond Ring.

IV. Principles-Capital Letters.-Rule 1. Note that capital letters must be used at the beginning of (a) titles of books, poems, essays, stories:—

Tennyson's Recollections of the Arabian Nights."
Songs of Innocence." The Pied Piper."

and (b) at the beginning of each new sentence:

One autumn day

.

Spread out on trellises.

and (c) at the beginning of each line of poetry:

When the breeze of a joyful dawn blew free

In the silken sail of infancy.

Blake's

Rule 2. Note that capital letters must be used with all important words in titles-always with nouns and adjectives, and also with other kinds of words when promi

nent:

"The

"Songs of Innocence." "The Fox and the Grapes." Pied Piper." "Much Ado about Nothing." "How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix." "All's Well that Ends Well."