The slender little hookey-nosed boy looked forlorn as a strayed goat."

- KIPLING: The Tomb of his Ancestors.

(c) "Then there rose up, with a rattle, as straight as an arrow, a little white-haired wizened ape of a man, with medals and orders on his tunic."-Ibid.

(2) Instead of describing a person or scene, we may say what it does. Knowing the act, the mind will tend to frame for itself the picture of the person of whom such an act would be characteristic, or the scene with which we should naturally associate such an act.

(a) "In short, Harthover was a grand place, and Sir John a grand old man, whom even Mr. Grimes respected; for not only could he send Mr. Grimes to prison when he deserved it, as he did once or twice a week; not only did he own all the land around for miles; not only was he a jolly, honest, sensible squire as ever kept a pack of hounds, who would do what he thought right by his neighbors, as well as get what he thought right for himself; but what was more, he weighed full fifteen stone, was nobody knew how many inches round the chest, and could have thrashed Mr. Grimes himself in fair fight."

– KINGSLEY: The Water-Babies.

(b) "The roosters were calling near and far, in many keys and tunes. The dogs were barking, cattle-bells were jangling in the wooded pastures, and as the youth passed farm-houses, lights in the kitchen windows showed that the women were astir about breakfast, and the sound of voices and the tapping of curry-combs at the barn told that the men were at their morning chores."

(3) We may also help the mind to make its own picture by telling how some one was affected by the person or scene. The stock illustration of this is the passage in the third book of the Iliad, where Homer, instead of describing Helen in detail, shows that, even in the midst of the disastrous siege, the aged Trojans, scarcely sensible to woman's charms, did not marvel that so great a war should have its cause in her beauty. The following illustration, however, is also good. By showing how the sea acted (compare the preceding example) and the effect upon the narrator, the author helps the reader to imagine how it looked.

"The Hispaniola was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. The booms were tearing at the blocks, the rudder was banging to and fro, and the whole ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manufactory. I had to cling tight to the backstay, and the world turned giddily before my eyes; for though I was good enough sailor when there was way on, this standing still and being rolled about like a bottle was a thing I never learned to stand without a qualm or so, above all in the morning, on an empty stomach." STEVENSON: Treasure Island.

EXERCISE II

I. Try to find at least one illustration of description which gains force through reference to:

1. What things are like.

2. What things do.

3. What effect things have on the spectator.

II. 1. It is sometimes said that every person resembles some animal.

F

Do you know any one of whom this is strik

ingly true?

Do you know any one who resembles or suggests a historical or public character? Can you write a description which shall gain clearness from mention of such a likeness?

2. Imagine yourself describing to a stranger some rather oddly shaped building you know, the plan of some town, the shape of a certain hill, or the course of a river. Could you make any of these descriptions clearer by comparison to some well-known object, e.g. a mathematical solid, a letter of the alphabet? Write the description you would give. Be careful not to force a likeness, for the mere sake of writing something.

3. Think about some person whom like you of your .own age or older as you choose. What are the things in his or her character that you admire most? How have you seen these traits shown? Can you sum up the actions in a few sentences so that they may suggest the character of your friend?

4. In like manner describe some machine; a storm; a drought; a wild animal. Suggest its size or force or delicacy by describing what it does.

5. If you were to go into a theatre at the very end of a performance, do you think you could judge from the appearance and actions of the audience whether the play had been tragic or amusing? What things might help you to judge.

6. Does the attitude and expression of people entering a cathedral or church convey any impression of the effect the church has of solemnity, beauty, etc.?

7. Write a short description, giving the impression of some place or thing by telling of the effect it produces on the spectators.

23. Description in Literature. —It is important that the student should, profiting by the instruction given

in the first part of this chapter, learn to describe persons, objects, and scenes by the orderly grouping of definite details. It is not to be expected that he will attain much skill in the art of describing by suggestion that has been so fully illustrated in the second part. People differ widely in their natural ability in this respect. It is to be hoped, however, that whether the student acquires skill in the process or not, he will learn to appreciate the value of description by this means. To it literature - and especially poetry owes much of its charm, and he who learns to love literature and to appreciate the art revealed in it is an educated man, whatever else he knows or is ignorant of. It is suggested, therefore, that the student, in his daily reading of good literature, keep his eyes open for description. He will not often find it standing by itself, for it is a necessary adjunct of narrative. Wherever it occurs, let him try to realize vividly the picture it presents and to judge how successful it is in its attempt. By taking account in this way of the effect of literature upon him, he will learn to value it more justly to cherish good literature and to understand, to a great extent, the difference between good literature and bad.

CHAPTER IV

NARRATION

24. NARRATION.-25. THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS.-26. THE ACTORS. — EXERCISE 12.-27. THE CIRCUMSTANCES. — EXERCISE 13. -28. ACTION: IN SHORT NARRATIVES. — EXERCISE 14.-29. THE AIM OF A NARRATIVE.-30. ACTION: IN LONGER NARRATIVES. EXERCISE 15.-31. NARRATIVE IN LITERATURE. -32. SUMMARY OF A NARRATIVE. - EXERCISE 16.

24. Narration. Much of our composition, as well as of our conversation, consists of narration. The aim of narration is simply to produce in the reader's mind images of a series of real or imaginary events, and to comment, if necessary, on their cause, importance, or relation to each other. The reader, with the eye of the imagination, sees what the narrator says has taken place, much as if he were watching the ever-changing pictures of a kinetoscope. The narrator, unlike the kinetoscope, is powerless to make us really see with our own eyes that which actually happened; he can, on the other hand, do three things. which the kinetoscope cannot: he can select, from a series of acts, those which seem to him most significant; he can at will transport the reader from one scene to another, or from one part of a scene to another; and he can, if he chooses, continually add comments which express his judgment of the impor