Composition-Rhetoric | Page 5

is the station?" inquired the Judge.
"Ain't none, boss. Dis heah is jes a crossing. Train's about due now, sah;
you-all won't hab long fer to wait. Thanky, sah; good-by; sorry you-all
didn't find no birds."
The Judge picked up his gun case and grip and walked toward his two
companions waiting on the platform a few yards away. Silhouetted
against the moonlight they made him think of the figure 10, for Mr.
Appleton was tall and erect, and the little Doctor short and circular.
9. I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris and he; I galloped, Dirck galloped,
we galloped all three; "Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate bolts
undrew, "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through. Behind shut
the postern, the lights sank to rest, And into the midnight we galloped
abreast. --Browning.
+Oral Composition II.+--_Relate orally to the class some incident in
which you were personally concerned._
The following may suggest a subject:-- 1. How I made friends with the
squirrels. 2. A trick of a tame crow. 3. Why I missed the train. 4. How a
horse was rescued. 5. Lost and found. 6. My visit to a menagerie.
(When preparing to relate this incident ask yourself first whether you
know exactly what happened. Consider then how to begin the story so
that your hearer will know when and where it happened and who were
there. Include in the beginning any statement that will assist the reader
in understanding the events which follow.)
+7. The Point of a Story.+--It is not necessary that a story be concerned
with a thrilling event in order to be interesting. Even a most
commonplace occurrence may be so told that it is worth listening to. It
is more important that a story have a point and be so told that this point
will be readily appreciated than that it deal with important or thrilling
events. The story should lead easily and rapidly to its point, and when
this is reached the end of the story should not be far distant. The
beginning of a story will contain statements that will assist us in
appreciating the point when we come to it, but if the point is plainly
stated near the beginning, or even if it is too strongly suggested, our
story will drag.
At what point in the following selection is the interest greatest?
During the Civil War, I lived in that portion of Tennessee which was
alternately held by the conflicting armies. My father and brothers were

away, as were all the other men in the neighborhood, except a few very
old ones and some half-grown boys. Mother and I were in constant fear
of injury from stragglers from both armies. We had never been
disturbed, for our farm was a mile or more back from the road along
which such detachments usually moved. We had periods of
comparative quiet in which we felt at ease, and then would come
reports of depredation near at hand, or rumors of the presence of
marauding bands in neighboring settlements.
One evening such a rumor came to us, and we were consequently
anxious. Early next morning, before the fog had lifted, I caught sight of
two men crossing the road at the far end of the orchard. They jumped
over the fence into the orchard and disappeared among the trees. I had
but a brief glimpse of them, but it was sufficient to show me that one
had a gun over his shoulder, while the other carried a saber.
"Quick, Mother, quick!" I cried. "Come to the window. There are
soldiers in the orchard."
Keeping out of sight, we watched the progress of the men through the
orchard. Our brief glimpses of them through the trees showed that they
were not coming directly to the house, but were headed for the barn and
sheds, and in order to keep out of sight, were following a slight ravine
which ran across the orchard and led to the back of the barns.
Mother and I were very much excited and hardly knew what to do.
Finally it was determined to hide upstairs in hopes that the men were
bent on stealing chickens or pigs, and might leave without disturbing
the house. We locked the doors and went upstairs, taking with us the
old musket and the butcher knife. We could hear the men about the
barn, and after what seemed an interminable time we heard them
coming towards the house.
Though shaking all over, I summoned courage enough to go to the
window and look out of a hole in the shade. As the men came into sight
around the corner, I screamed outright, but from relief rather than fear,
for the men were not soldiers, but Grandpa Smith and his
fourteen-year-old