from Squire Morland of Sheepstead.-Francis Trevelyan Buckland: Curiosities of Natural History.

5.

THE FISH I DIDN'T CATCH.

I remember my first fishing-excursion as if it were but yesterday. I have been happy many times in my life, but never more intensely so than when I received that first fishing-pole from my uncle's hand, and trudged off with him through the woods and meadows.

It was a still, sweet day of early summer; the long afternoon shadows of the trees lay cool across our path; the leaves seemed greener, the flowers brighter, the birds merrier, than ever before. My uncle, who knew by long experience where were the best haunts of pickerel, considerately placed me at the most favorable point. I threw out my line as I had so often seen others do, and waited anxiously for a bite, moving the bait in rapid jerks on the surface of the water, in imitation of the leap of a frog. Nothing came of it. "Try again," said my uncle.

Suddenly the bait sank out of sight. "Now for it," thought I; "here is a fish at last." I made a strong pull, and brought up a tangle of weeds. Again and again I cast out my line with aching arms, and drew it back empty. I looked to my uncle appealingly. "Try once more," he said; "we fishermen must have patience."

Suddenly something tugged at my line, and swept off with it into deep water. Jerking it up, I saw a fine pickerel wriggling in the sun. "Uncle!" I cried, looking back in uncontrollable excitement, "I've got a fish."

"Not yet,” said my uncle. As he spoke there was a plash in the water. I caught the arrowy gleam of a scared fish shooting into the middle of the stream; my hook hung empty from the line. I had lost the prize.

Overcome by my great and bitter disappointment, I sat down on the nearest hassock, and for a time refused to be comforted even by my uncle's assurance that there was more fish in the brook. He refitted my bait, and, putting the pole again in my hands, told me to try my luck once more.

"But remember, boy," he said, with his shrewd smile, "never brag of catching a fish until he is on dry ground. I've seen older folks

have changed its fancy and be bent upon undoing its performance. What a number of things a river does by simply following Gravity in the innocence of its heart!-Stevenson: An Inland Voyage.

Class discussion.

1. Show how each paragraph in the above composition bears directly on the subject of the whole piece. 2. What illustrations and incidents are used to develop the idea of the "pastoral, opulent country" of Golden Valley? 3. Make a list of specific words from the first two paragraphs. 4. What is there in the composition to betray the author's enjoyment of his trip? 5. The things that he saw caused him to think. What were some of his thoughts? 6. The last paragraph does more than give another phase of the subject. What does it do? Subjects for written composition.1

Choose one of the following subjects. First write out on successive lines of your paper, the three or more points which you are to consider, and number them carefully for the teacher's inspection. When the outline is satisfactory,

write the theme.

1. A canoe trip on a winding stream through a changing country. 2. A trip down the river or in the harbor. 3. A wagon ride through a farming district. 4. Summer days in the country, or at the seashore. 5. My experience at mountain-climbing. 6. An automobile trip to a new place. 7. On board my yacht. 8. My experience at deep-sea fishing. 9. My trip in a house-boat. 10. Over night in a fishing dory.

1The themes will now be too long to write as often as one a week. The class may accordingly be divided into sections. See "Exposition of Method", page XXII.

CHAPTER XXX

I. Making Outlines for the Expression of Ideas.

1. In the last Lesson, we found the subjects of the paragraphs, wrote them down in order, and numbered them. When topics are thus written out, the result is called an Outline. Before writing a composition, such an outline should be made.

Exercise 1. Make an outline of the following composition:

When the [Greeks] saw the sun rise, they thought that it was a great being called a god, who came up out of the sea in the east, and then journeyed across the sky toward the west. When they saw the grass and flowers springing up out of the dark cold earth, they fancied that there must be another god who made them grow. They imagined that the lightning was the weapon of a mighty god, who ruled the earth and sky. And so they explained everything about them, by thinking that it was caused by some being much greater than themselves. Sometimes they even imagined that they could see their gods in the clouds or in the waves of the sea, and sometimes they thought that they heard them speaking in the rustling leaves of the forest.

The Greeks believed that the whole world was divided among the great gods, who were brothers. The first and greatest of them was the god of the heaven and the earth. The second was the god of the ocean, the rivers, and the brooks. The third was the god of the under world, or the dark space beneath the surface of the ground. Besides these, there were many other gods, most of whom were the children of these three or related to them in some way.

The gods were always thought of as larger than men and more beautiful in face and figure. They remained always the same, never growing older or dying, as men do. They were not always good, but