The victory seemed like a resurrection from the dead, to the Eastern States.

The supplying an army of contractors, General Jackson had objected to, as highly objectionable.

It is an acknowledged fact by some of our most experienced teachers, that but few persons can write a full page without the transgressing in some way the rules of style.

That fellow's being a poet, I never heard mentioned before.

Then did the officer lay hold of him and executed him immediately. Whom is that person whom I saw you introduce, and present him to the president?

I offer observations that a long and checkered pilgrimage have enabled me to make on man.

Propriety of pronunciation is the giving to every word the sound which the most polite usage of the language appropriates to it. The book is printed very neat, and on fine wove paper.

The fields look so greenly that I am tempted to roam over them. He is a new created knight, and his dignity sets awkward on him.

A too great variety of studies dissipate and weaken the mind.

James was resolved to not indulge himself in such a cruel amusement.

Calumny and detraction are sparks, which if you do not blow, they will go out of themselves.

They that honor me I will honor; and them that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

I have not nor shall not consent to a proposal so unjust.

This treaty was made at Earl Moreton the governor's castle.

The business was no sooner opened, but it was cordially acquiesced in.

As to his general conduct, he deserves punishment as much, or more, than his companion.

He acted independent of foreign assistance.

They understand the practical part better than him; but he is much better acquainted with the theory than them.

The people's happiness is the statesmans honor.

Be solicitous to aid such deserving persons who appear destitute of friends.

Ignorance, or the want of light, produce sensuality, covetousness, and those violent contests about trifles, which occasions so much misery and crimes in the world.

No human happiness is so complete as does not contain some imperfection.

This is the person who we are so much obliged to, and we expected to have seen, when the favor was conferred.

What can be the reason of the committee having delayed the business?

I know not if Charles was the author, but I understood it to be he. When we see bad men to be honored and prosperous in the world, it is some discouragement to virtue.

The furniture was all purchased at Wentworth's, the cabinetmaker's.

It is right said that though faith justify us, yet works must justify our faith.

PART THIRD.

INVENTION-RESUMED.

CHAPTER XXI.

EXEMPLIFICATION, OR ILLUSTRATIVE FICTION.

IN preceding chapters the pupil has been exercised in narration, simply as such. It is now proper that he should be directed to those forms of narration that have some other end in view than the mere recounting of events.

§ 323. There is not a more effective method of enforcing important truth, or of teaching lessons of high value, than the exemplification of them in pleasing narrative. It is an old adage that "example is better than precept," and even when the example is a fictitious one, yet, if it be conceived in a life-like and natural manner, it carries with it a force far superior to mere dry argument or injunction. Hence it becomes important to be able in this pleasing way to commend to others the dictates of good sense and of virtue.

It may be thought by some to have been better to prescribe the illustration of moral truth by veritable examples, before proceeding to the invention of fictitious ones. But there are some reasons for the contrary course. The events of real life are very complex, both in their causes and their results. It is difficult to find a pure illustration of any moral truth. To select from the tangled meshes of actual events, the single thread of results that are fairly referable to one cause, is beyond the powers of the generality of young persons. It requires experience; experience in two ways: first, to furnish facts; secondly, to impart the wisdom to trace the connections of facts to their causes. Moreover, the acquaintance of young people does not reach far beyond the circle of their friends; and it would be a very

improper thing to require a pupil to narrate cases, drawn from the community around, such as he might conceive to be illustrations of the evil effects of some foible or vice. His fictitious cases will generally bear a sufficient resemblance to actual ones, to answer all the demands of a stickler for fact.

Fiction, then, is the preferable field. It obviates all difficult and delicate matters connected with personal character. The imagination of the young is vigorous, and calls for exercise. Let the exercise be supplied; let it be guided unto useful ends. The task of writing compositions becomes no task, but a pleasure, when it is made a means of indulging the forward fancy.

§ 324. First, let the pupil be instructed as to the different kinds of fiction. These, in prose, are Novels, Romances, and Tales. The last differs from the two preceding only in the matter of length, being shorter than they. Novels and romances differ from each other in the degree to which they follow nature and probability. The novel aims to reflect real life; the romance does not hesitate to introduce the marvelous and the supernatural. It is obvious that a tale, be it ever so short, will be characterized by a likeness to one or the other of these two classes of more extended fictions.

It is, then, that form of tale which resembles the novel, the tale that reflects real life, that the pupil should first attempt. Not because it is easier to excel in this style of fiction, but because it is easier to do any thing at all at it. As there is nothing like an example to make things clear, the following example is introduced to give some idea of the kind of production here required.

LOUISA SIMONS; OR APPLICATION.

Louisa Simons was a bright, intelligent girl of fourteen, amiable and ambitious, the joy of her parents, the pride of her teachers, and far advanced in all her studies, except arithmetic.

"Oh, mother!" she exclaimed frequently, "this is the day for the blackboard; and a black day to me! I hate arithmetic! I wish the multiplication table had never been invented! There is not such an expressive verse in the world as the old one,

'Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad;

The Rule of Three does puzzle me,

And Practice drives me mad.'

Mrs. Simons sometimes reproved her for her vehemence; sometimes soothed, and sometimes encouraged her; but finding her more and more excited, she addressed her one day, gravely and anxiously, thus:

"My daughter, you make me unhappy by these expressions I am aware that many minds are so constituted as to learn numbers slowly; but that close attention and perseverance can conquer even natural defects, has been often proved. If you pass over a rule carelessly, and say you comprehend it, when really from a want of energy you have failed to grasp it, you will never learn; and your black days, when you become a woman, and have responsibilities, will increase. I speak feelingly on this subject, for I had the same natural aversion to arithmetic as yourself. Unfortunately for me, a schoolmate, quick at figures, shared my desk. We had no blackboards then, and she was kind or unkind enough to work out my sums for me. The consequence is that I have suffered repeatedly in my purse and in my feelings, from my ignorance. Even now I am obliged to apply to your father in the most trifling calculations, and you must sometimes have noticed my mortification under such circumstances."

"I look to you for assistance," continued she, affectionately, to Louisa. "You have every advantage; your mind is active, and in other respects disciplined, and I am sure your good heart will prompt you in aiding me."

Louisa's eyes looked a good resolution; she kissed her mother, and commenced her lesson with the right feelings. Instead of being angry with her teacher and herself because every thing was not plain, she tried to clear her brow, and attend to the subject calmly.

Success crowned her efforts, while, added to the pleasure of acquisition, she began to experience the higher joy of self-conquest and her mother's approbation. She gave herself up to diligent study, and conquered at length the higher branches of arithmetic.

Louisa, the eldest of three children, had been born to the luxuries of wealth, and scarcely an ungratified want had shaded her sunny brow. Mr. Simons was a merchant of respectable connections; but in the height of his prosperity, one of those failures took place which occur in commerce, and his affairs became suddenly involved in the shock which is often felt so far in the mercantile chain. A nervous