the dry regions of Sahara. While the Egyptian sky is very bright, the white light is so pronounced that the blue does not appear particularly attractive. The skies of Italy and the Alps, on the other hand, frequently are clear blue. Of all the places which the writer has visited Greece has the purest and deepest blue sky. The color frequently is so striking that one does not wonder at even the most vivid descriptions in Greek literature. While traveling in Greece during the spring of 1891 the writer took particular occasion to notice the color of the sky, sea, and mountains. The atmospheric colors are much the most brilliant known in any part of the world. The mountains of Greece seen at a distance of more than ten miles appear of deep indigo blue tinged with a delicate purple of inexpressible beauty. T. J. SEE: The Blue Color of the Sky, Atlantic Monthly, Point out, in the following extracts, all the verbs of action which assist in making the description vivid. Soon she struggled to a certain hilltop and saw before her the silent inflooding of the day. Out of the East it welled and whitened; the darkness trembled into light; and the stars were extinguished like the street lamps of a human city. The whiteness brightened into silver, the silver warmed into gold, the gold kindled into pure and living fire; and the face of the East was barred with elemental scarlet. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON: Prince Otto. In the next extracts, show what use of narration is made to aid the description. 1. The river twisted among the lakes and marshes choked with wild rice; and, but for their guides, they would scarcely have followed the perplexed and narrow channel. It brought them at last to the portage; where, after carrying their canoes a mile and a half over the prairie and through the marsh, they launched them on the Wisconsin; bade farewell to the waters that flowed to the St. Lawrence, and committed themselves to the current that was to bear them they knew not whither, -perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea or the Gulf of California. They glided calmly down the tranquil stream, by islands choked with trees and matted with entangling grape-vines; by forests, groves, and prairies, the parks and pleasure-grounds of a prodigal nature; by thickets and marshes and broad, bare sand-bars; under the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked down from afar the bold brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac, the canoes inverted on the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bisonflesh or venison, the evening pipes and slumber beneath the stars; and when in the morning they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a bridal veil; then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the languid woods basked breathless in the sultry glare. FRANCIS PARKMAN: The Discovery of the Great West. 2. He came upon the spot. There were half-dressed figures tearing to and fro, some endeavoring to drag the frightened horses from the stables, others driving the cattle from the yard and out-houses and others coming laden from the burning pile, amidst a shower of falling sparks and the tumbling down of redhot beams. The apertures, where doors and windows stood an hour ago, disclosed a mass of raging fire; walls rocked and crumbled into the burning well; the molten lead and iron poured down, white hot, upon the ground. Women and children. shrieked, and men encouraged each other with noisy shouts and cheers. The clanking of the engine-pumps, and the spurting and hissing of the water as it fell upon He the blazing wood, added to the tremendous roar. shouted, too, till he was hoarse; and, flying from memory and himself, plunged into the thickest of the throng. CHARLES DICKENS: Oliver Twist. EXERCISES 1. Describe a scene in a hay field, using exposition or narration as an aid. 2. Describe a scene in a blacksmith's shop, using exposition or narration as an aid. 3. Describe the audience at some lecture. 4. Describe a lawn party. 5. Describe a park (a) in the spring, (b) in the fall. 6. Describe a river when it is frozen and people are skating upon it, (a) as you stand on the bank, (b) as you are skating. 7. Describe a canoeing trip down the river. 8. Describe the street in which you live. 9. Describe what you see as you walk down an unfamiliar street. 10. Describe the ocean at high tide, as you stand on (a) a sandy beach, (b) a cliff. REVIEW OF DESCRIPTION 1. Explain the value in description of the presence of words signifying form, color, motion, sound, smell, taste, and touch. 2. What is meant by the point of view? Why should it be noted in descriptions? 3. Explain the method of choosing and of grouping details in description. What details should be omitted? 4. What is meant by description by effect? by detailed description? by suggestive description? 5. How are unity, coherence, and emphasis gained in description? 6. How are paragraphs usually developed in description? 7. What kind of diction is most effective in description? CHAPTER XXI EXPOSITION Review of Exposition. Exposition, dealing with abstract ideas and theories, is a more difficult kind of composition than narration or description, both of which are concerned with concrete, definite events, or objects. Definition, the explanation of a process, of a principle, of a purpose, of a theory, or of a judgment, are species of exposition. Since this kind of composition deals with subjects somewhat unfamiliar to the ordinary reader, great care should be taken to give him all possible help, by observing the laws of unity, coherence, and emphasis, in the whole composition, in each paragraph, and in each sentence. General Rules of Structure in Exposition. — The following rules should be observed in exposition: 1. Limit the topic under discussion; do not take too large or too general a subject. 2. Admit in your theme nothing which is not closely and vitally connected with your subject. 3. Make an outline of your theme before you begin to write, taking great care that each new |