The girl will be endeavouring to tie the handkerchief round the man's arm so as to save him; but he, holding his faith above his greatest worldly love, will be softly preventing her."-John Everett Millais.

COMPOSITION I. -The Trial by Combat (Scott's "Talisman," ch. xxviii., "H.S. Reader," p. 179). 2. Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu (Scott's "Lady of the Lake," V., xii-xvi). 3. The Competition of the Archers (Scott's "Ivanhoe," ch. xiii., "Fourth Reader,” p. 164). Shylock and Antonio (Shakspere's "Merchant of Venice," "Fourth Reader," pp. 311, 321, and "H.S. Reader," p. 40). 4. "Lord Ullin's Daughter," Campbell ("Third Reader," p. 127).

1 In preparation for these compositions, the poems or extracts may be read aloud to the class, then discussed, after which the outline should be made on the blackboard and in the exercise books.

5. "Lucy Gray," William Wordsworth ("Third Reader," p. 27). 6, "The Three Fishers," Kingsley ("Fourth Reader," p. 220). 7. "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix,” Browning ("Fourth Reader,” p. 285). 8. "The Wreck of the Hesperus," Longfellow ("Third Reader," p. 74). 9. "The Sands o' Dee," Kingsley (id., p. 38). 10. "Incident of the French Camp," Browning (id., p. 141). II. "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," Browning. 12. “The Diver," Schiller ("H.S. Reader," p. 294). 13. "The Bell of Atri," Longfellow (“Fourth Reader," p. 111). 14. The Battle of the Round House, Stevenson, 66 Kidnapped," ch. x.

16. An Es18. An Adven20. The Mystery

COMPOSITION 151.-An Adventure with Wolves. cape from Indians. 17. The Wreck of the ture on the River. 19. A Dog's Heroic Deed. of the House at 21. The Diary of Rapids. 23. An Accident at Niagara Falls.

22. Shooting the

1 The pupil is required to gather the material for these compositions for himself or to imagine the details.

PART II.-DESCRIPTION.

CHAPTER I.- PLANTS, SHRUBS, TREES.

LESSON XLIV.

MEMORIZATION.-FORBEARANCE.

Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men's tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?
And loved so well a high behaviour,

In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?

O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!

-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Description portrays in words individual objects, scenes and persons. Observation is the chief source of the material for descriptive writing; the mind alert to note the appearances of things and persons will store an infinite number of details, a treasury of memories, from which the writer can draw at will. "I kept always two books in my pocket," says Stevenson of his boyhood, "one to read and one to write in. As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw with appropriate words; when I sat by the roadside, I would either read, or a pencil and penny version book would be in my hand, to note down the scenes or commemorate some halting stanzas1."

The simplest form of description is to bring together all the details-an inventory, as it were, of all the parts of the object, for purposes of identification. Works of a scientific nature abound in such descriptions.

1 "Memories and Portraits," by Robert Louis Stevenson.

THEME: THE TRAILING ARBUTUS.

The Trailing Arbutus, Mayflower, or Ground Laurel, as it is variously called, belongs to the heath family of plants, and is found in the woods or upland pastures during the month of April. Its slender stalk is tough and woody-fibred, and trails close to the ground under dry leaves and dead grass. The oval leaf is an evergreen, also tough of fibre and rough to the touch, but usually worm-eaten and rust-spotted. The flower spreads into five rounded points and varies in hue from an exquisite white to a deeply tinted rose. These blossoms are gathered in close clusters along the ends of the stalk and branches, and exhale a sweet and spicy fragrance. The entire plant, with its green and rusty leaves, hugs the earth so closely that often only the tips of the flowery clusters show here and there among the dried leaves. Nature, too, keeps fast the secret of its growth, and the Arbutus refuses to live in man's care for more than one or two seasons.

DESCRIPTION.

Analyzing the description above we see that it brings forward the details of the object described in an orderly fashion, with regard only to truth and completeness. Frequently a drawing accompanies such a description to ensure exactness, for the clear presentation of truth of fact is here all important. This kind of description is nothing more than a simple inventory of the qualities of the object, arranged in a methodical manner. This methodical presentation involves the statement of the theme and the orderly sequence of details.

Introduction.-A general definition of the Trailing Arbutus; its family relationship; its habitat.