mind is not only free and easy in his conversation and manner, but has his imagination clear and his judgment undisturbed. He is disposed to be polite and obliging, and naturally awakens similar feelings in those with whom he comes in contact. As the soft rain, falling gently on the earth, penetrates the soil and endues all nature with freshness and beauty, so the influence of his genial disposition permeates all hearts and fills them with joy and gladness. In this atmosphere of happiness that he has created he breathes the sweetest joys of life.

Cheerfulness not only lightens the burdens of life and increases social pleasures, but it also promotes health. Cheerfulness affects beneficially not the mind alone, but likewise the body. If in ill-health, we give way to repining, we encourage the malady ; while if we brace up, we banish our fretful passions and with them a large part of our trouble. If we continually worry over our sorrows, we cause our mental faculties to become dull and languid; so, if we keep in mind our bodily afflictions, we imperceptibly injure the delicate fibres of which our bodies are composed. On the contrary, if we banish all thoughts of our ailments, or troubles, we raise our spirits and promote our health.

Seeing, then, that cheerfulness is productive of so much happiness, let us all endeavor, no matter how dark the gloom may be, to help to brighten it by our smiles.

EXERCISE XCI.
THEMES.

DIRECTION. Make a framework on the following topics, as illustrated in the preceding Lesson; revise it; write out; revise your composition thoroughly; write in between the lines all the emendations you can; finally, rewrite the whole.

1. The benefits of gardening.

2. The use of the rain.

3. The pleasures of a well informed mind.

4. Why we should resist the beginnings of evil.

5. Why the wealthy are influential.
6. The advantages of shrewdness.
7. Why we should not kill little birds.

8. We should not waste time.

9. The schoolmaster's place in society.

10. It is more profitable to publish books than to write them.

LESSON XLVI.

KINDS OF DISCOURSE.

As we

Prose embraces all kinds of composition not in verse. have already seen, the grand formal distinction between poetry and prose is metre. Metrical arrangement is effected largely by inversion of the natural or grammatical order of the words and other parts of the sentence. As inversion is the characteristic of poetic order, so directness is the chief feature of prose arrangement. Prose, however, is not confined to the strict grammatical order, but is allowed to deviate from it for the sake of clearness, force, or beauty.

Varieties. The chief varieties of composition are, Narration, Description, Exposition, Argumentation, Oratory, and Poetry.

Narration presents a succession of events in the order of time, or with special reference to time. The aim of the narrative writer should be to make the reader an eye-witness, as it were, of the events narrated.

Under Narration may be classed, History, Annals, Chronicles, Memoirs, Biography, Diary, Travels, News, and Fiction.

Kinds of Narration. I. HISTORY, in its broadest acceptation, is a formal and connected account of the life of a nation. Every age has had its theory of what history should be. This has

vied from a mere catalogue of events to the modern idea that history should contain not only a narrative of events, but also a philosophic analysis of motive and action, as well as a clear interpretation of cause and effect.

2. ANNALS are a bare record of public events, written down from

year to year.

3. CHRONICLES are also a primitive kind of history. They consist of a narrative of affairs of state, somewhat more extensive than annals, but with strict attention to chronological order.

4. MEMOIRS is a term applied chiefly to the relation of events that have come within the writer's personal knowledge. In the higher forms it deals with topics that belong to the province of history. It does not, however, pretend to be a systematic record, but rather a conversational account of matters of greater or less importance.

5. BIOGRAPHY is the history of an individual life. When written by the person himself, it is called Autobiography. The biography of prominent men often entails much of the history of their times. A short biography is called a Memoir.

6. DIARY is a daily record of a person's life. It resembles Autobiography, but differs from it in that it deals with the events of only one day at a time. Moreover, it is not intended to be seen by any one except the writer.

7. TRAVELS Contain an account of what a person sees or learns from day to day on his journey through foreign countries. They consist largely of description, and ought to be clear and accurate.

8. NEWS, an account of events of all kinds from all parts of the world, is at present one of the most common kinds of writing. Though it may not strictly deserve the name of literature, yet much skill and experience are required to write it with the necessary clearness, brevity, and accuracy.

9. FICTION resembles biography, but differs from it in that the matter is invented by the writer. Though the incidents it narrates never actually occurred, and the persons whose lives and characters it describes never lived, yet they are types of what did

exist at the time and under the circumstances indicated. It is true to nature.

Fiction may be divided into the Romance and the Novel.

The Romance is a kind of Fiction in which the incidents are of an extravagant and improbable character.

The Novel is of two kinds, the Historical Novel and the Domestic Novel. In the former, historical characters are made to take part in the supposed incidents. Scott's novels are a good example. In the latter domestic life and character are depicted in minute detail. There is always a plot, and in its development the passions, particularly love, play an important part.

The purpose of Fiction is manifold. It may aim at teaching history, at conveying some doctrine, enforcing some moral or religious views, making the reader acquainted with the customs and modes of life of by-gone days, or of merely giving pleasure by the excitement of plot, the beauty of language, and the charm of description.

Principles. In Narration there are certain principles that Ishould be observed.

1. The events should be placed before the reader as he would have seen them had he been present.

2. Every fact or event should be made to grow out of something previous. In fiction this principle is often violated for the purpose of creating a more intense interest in the plot.

3. The entire narration should centre in one principal action or event. Where this is not possible for the whole, as in history, then each distinct part should be formed on this principle.

4. Where there are simultaneous trains of action, there should, generally, be a principal one, and such subordinate ones as are naturally connected with it as causes, consequences, or circumstances.

5. When there are several streams of events of nearly equal importance, the ordinary method is to carry one up to a certain point, and then return to bring up the others, one by one, to the same date. This must be repeated to the end of the whole. Every reader of fiction will have noticed this method.

6. The scene and the actors should be changed as seldom as possible; and when such a change is made, attention should be called to the fact. This rule does not hold in fiction.

7. In addition to the general rules laid down above, the following points may be noted respecting history:

a. As many features have to be detailed, such as the progress of the arts and sciences, the development of literature, the advancement of morality, and the delineation of character, the writer is compelled to take up these various topics one by one and complete each singly, or, at least, carry it through a certain period.

b. History must be systematic and complete; the plan must show the unity of the whole and at the same time give every part its proper setting.

c. It is essential that the order of time be clearly followed, and that the dates should be so interwoven with the narrative as to form a definite framework on which to hang the events.

d. To give the reader a clear insight into the situation of affairs, the historian often goes backward and recounts the preceding cir

cumstances.

e. Again, for clearness and for aid to the memory, he makes frequent summaries of the events which he has related in detail. By these succinct and comprehensive views, the mind is assisted in grasping the subject as a whole.

f. In the delineation of character the historian has an opportunity to vary the narrative by word-pictures of the men who have fixed the destiny of the nation.

8. The narrator should not attempt to relate everything. He should give the salient points, and leave the rest to the reader to supply.

Style. The topics of narration are so varied that no absolute rules can be laid down as to the language to be employed. It must, however, always be suited to the subject in hand. In general, it should be plain, simple, and perspicuous. In history it must be calm and dignified; while its elegance and beauty are among the most engaging charms of fiction. When the subject