ence. often so nearly like figures that you may not at first see the differWhen someone says, "It's a case of sour grapes," he is merely referring to, or alluding to, a fable which everybody is supposed to know. Writers differ as to the habit of allusion; and some authors use it to such an extent as to make their writings very hard to understand. Still, we must not find fault if we fail to see beauty which is hidden only by our own ignorance. You see here, then, a new reason for being familiar with world-classics such as Æsop's Fables and Pilgrim's Progress; for in your general reading you are sure to meet with frequent allusions to them which, not understood, take much away from the pleasure you might otherwise enjoy. EXERCISES I Mental, and later Oral: (1) Study carefully the introduction to "Evangeline," and consider as to each word whether it is used literally or figuratively. (2) Discuss the same in class. II Mental, and later Oral: (1) Turn to the passage from Longfellow quoted in Chapter II, and study it in like manner. (2) Discuss the same in class. III Oral: Oral: (1) Name parts of the following objects which have received their names thru a similarity not real but fancied : a pin, a needle, a table, a comb, a jar, a bottle, a buckle, an umbrella, a stovepipe; a sofa, a bedstead, an easy-chair; a hill. (2) Use in complete sentences the metaphors brow, crown, head, foot, and shoulder, of a hill or of a mountain; or point out, if possible, in your home landscape the features which might be so named. IV Mental: How many absurdities do you see in the following mixed metaphor, used in an address?— Was England to stand with her arms folded and with her hands in her pockets? V Oral: Explain the allusions in the following expressions : He made a bee-line for home. Don't be a dog in the manger. Here is a Simple Simon. Better be the tortoise than the hare. I don't wish to be the early worm! I fear he is a rolling stone. Don't try to get the lion's share. Let us take the stitch in time. VI Suggested Oral: If the necessary books are to be had, read aloud in class and discuss there the following: 1 From Longfellow's "Building of the Ship" the passages where the ocean is personified as bridegroom and the nation as the Ship of State. 2 The beautiful short allegory by Dickens called "A Child's Dream of a Star." 3 The short allegory by Addison called "The Vision of Mirza." (This may be found in several of the earlier reading books.) 4 A short passage from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. 5 As many of Æsop's Fables as time will permit, these to be selected by yourselves and either read or recited. 6 The passage beginning "What is so rare as a day in June?" from Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal," special attention being given to the figures used. 7 The burlesque called " Evening," by Oliver Wendell Holmes, giving careful attention to its amusing figures based upon the special vocabulary of the speaker. VII Written and Oral: (1) Begin as soon as convenient in your wordbooks a collection of beautiful figures of speech, writing the name of the figure within the left-hand margin, and after each the name of its author and the place where it occurs, in case these are known. Gradually, from week to week, add to this collection, letting it grow to represent what seems to yourself most beautiful in figurative language. (2) At some future date, duly assigned, read these aloud in class. NOTE: Each one of you should begin now the keeping of a wordbook, in which you may preserve in permanent form your studies upon words. A notebook has been prepared for this purpose, called Pupil's Wordbook, or Helper Number Three. The pages are ruled especially for these exercises. If you do not procure one of these, get an ordinary blankbook, and with your teacher's assistance rule it, from day to day, as the exercises demand. Put into your wordbook the work assigned to it. Always copy work into this only after careful corrections, based upon approval by your teacher or discussion in class. The careful preservation of language exercises in permanent form, with corrections and additions from time to time, means the doubling of their value to the student. OCTOBER* Like gallant courtiers, the forest trees Flaunt in their crimson robes with broidered gold; And, like a king in royal purple's fold, The oak flings largess to the beggar breeze. Forever burning, ever unconsumed, Like the strange portent of the prophet's bush, Upon the lulled and drowsy atmosphere Fall faint and low the far-off muffled stroke *Reprinted by permission of the author. William Henry Withrow. CHAPTER II SPECIAL VOCABULARIES All the words at your command make up the sum total of your vocabulary. One child may have a wide range of language, while another who sits next him at school may have a narrow one. The vocabulary of each of you will be determined by several things: first of all, by your home life and training; and after this, by the books you read, by your companions out of school, by your opportunities for observation, and by any outside work which you may do. No two persons' vocabularies are ever exactly alike: the son of a blacksmith uses certain words which the son of a bookkeeper may not understand; the child of a carpenter or of a farmer usually knows words which have no meaning to the child of a clerk or of a jeweler. Workers in the several trades have wide vocabularies of special terms which belong to their trades alone. Hence, it is evident that every person has his own vocabulary. Besides this, he has also certain favorite words which he is in the habit of using most often of all. It follows, that there is decided separation, or divergence, among the different vocabularies in every schoolroom. It is certain that no two of you are able to think just the same thoughts, nor to read the same books with exactly the same understanding. Not only does every child and every writer have his own vocabulary, but every department of knowledge also has its vocabulary of special terms; geography, arithmetic, geology, chemistry, botany, each has its own terminology, or fixed system of terms. We sometimes speak also of the vocabulary of a blackguard or of that of a gentleman, implying that these differ in accordance with the characters of the men who use them. We hear that an angry man exhausted all the vocabulary of vituperation, or abuse; and we may hear that a noble oration or sermon or public appeal of some sort teemed with a vocabulary of conciliation and forgiveness. You will find it of great interest to study the terms commonly found in the vocabularies of different classes of people, or of different occupations. Today every new invention or discovery or industry naturally brings in with itself a vocabulary of new words, and every scholarly person knows that this is both right and necessary. Observe that cattle-raising in the West has given us the new terms cowboy, ranch, round-up, cut-out, bunch (of cattle), mess wagon, broncho, cayuse (an inferior sort of broncho, running wild), horse-wrangler, tenderfoot, and many others, some of which you may at once recall, and all of which are needed. For this reason, I ask you to make collections of words likely to be found in special vocabularies. In this work, every child should aid his classmates, and the teacher will aid all. Conversation at home or elsewhere and reading should be of greatest help. When studying the vocabulary of words relating to a church, you will find very wide differences among yourselves with regard to the number of special terms possessed. When this list is discussed, the children who attend an Episcopal church may perhaps be able to explain certain terms to the rest of the class. Thus the words lectern, reredos, crozier, are words familiar to many choir boys, but, of course, strange to those who have had no opportunity to know the objects named. The terms, too, found in a prayer-book together make up a vocabulary of church days and services mostly unknown to the child who has never used such a book. In discussing the trade of wagon-making, the country boy |