PART IV. EXPOSITION.

CHAPTER I.-HOW THINGS ARE MADE.

LESSON LXX.

The explanation of things is EXPOSITION. Whenever we seek to express clearly the nature of a principle, the method of doing a thing, the plan of a machine, the essential character of an object, we expound. The housekeeper's recipe for making currant jelly, Euclid's explanations of the properties of a triangle, the engineer's statement of the means of storing electricity, the economist's elucidation of the character of money, the teacher's explanation of a rule or a passage, are all Expositions. This kind of composition is of high value in the practical world.

THEME: MAKING PEANUT BRITTLE.

One of the very best of home-made candies is peanut brittle. It has the great merit of being easily made, and of almost always turning out well, not resulting in a dismal and messy compound that refuses to harden or become anything but a sticky syrup.

To make peanut brittle, shell your peanuts and rub off the brown inner skin; then put the nuts on a bread board, and crush them with the rolling pin until they are broken to the size of coarsely ground coffee. Measure the broken nuts and take just as much granulated sugar as you have peanuts. Put the sugar in an iron skillet or saucepan on the fire, without a drop of water, and stir

steadily, as the sugar melts and turns brown. When the last trace of sugar melts into syrup, put in the peanuts, stir at once and pour out into buttered tins. All this last must be done very quickly, or the candy will harden as you handle it.

STUDY OF EXPOSITION.-This exposition, however simple, follows a definite plan. Definition and general introduction; the exposition proper,-the order and number of details, determined by the nature of the theme, and brought forward as if a narration.. The purpose here is to make plain. The value of this mode of writing depends, therefore, on the simplicity, clearness, and adequate fullness of the explanation.

COMPOSITION I. Following the model above, tell how to make one of the following:-1. Butter. 2. Cheese. 3. Tomato Soup. 4. Maple Sugar. 5. Currant Jelly. 6. Coffee. 7. Plum Pudding.

COMPOSITION 2.-Tell how to following:-1. Mortar. 2. Plaster.

make one of the

3. Paint. 4. Silo.

5. Cider. 6. Wine. 7. A Kite. 8. Baseball Diamond, or Tennis Court, or Golf Links. 9. A Boat. IO. A Photograph.

COMPOSITION 3.-Tell how one of the following is made-I. A Crock. 2. A China Plate. 3. Bricks. 4. Glass. 5. A Mirror. 6. Matches. 7. Paper. 8. Wall Paper. 9. A Book.

COMPOSITION 4. Tell how to grow one of the following:-1. Indian Corn. 2. Tomatoes. 3. Celery. 4. Mushrooms. 5. Strawberries. 6. Grapes. cinths. 8. Sweet Peas.

7. Hya

CHAPTER II.-THE NATURE OF MACHINES.

LESSON LXXI.

THEME: A PIANOFORTE.

A Pianoforte is a stringed musical instrument, played by keys. It is made up of four parts: the Frame, the Strings, the Keys and Action, the Case.

The Frame is the large harp-shaped form on which the strings are stretched. It is made of iron or steel, so as to withstand the tremendous strain of the strings and hold them in tune.

The Strings are made of steel wire, and vary in size and length in order to produce the different tones. Below the strings is the sounding board, a large thin board without knot or flaw, fastened to the frame at its edges. The vibration of this board when a string is sounded greatly improves the tone of the string.

The Keyboard consists of a row of keys communicating with the strings by means of what is called the "Action." Touch a key and at once a little "hammer," made of wood covered with felt, jumps up and strikes the string. As you touch the key a small piece of leather, called the "damper," is raised off the string so that it may vibrate. As your finger is removed, the damper returns to still the vibration of its string and prevent any jangling with subsequent notes. The "loud" pedal lifts all the dampers from the strings, and so aids in giving loud and continuing tones. The "soft" pedal moves a damper upon all the strings.

The Case is the box that holds the frame, strings, and action, and the legs on which the piano stands. It is

made of durable, well-seasoned wood, often beautifully worked and ornamented.

COMPOSITION I.-Draw up a formal outline of the preceding passage. Following the plan of this passage, draw up a formal outline and explain the principle of construction of one of the following:-1. The Common Pump. 2. A Stove. 3. A Refrigerator. 4. A Common Lock. 5. A Combination Lock. 6. A Canal Lock. 7. A Water Wheel. 8. A Wind Mill. 9. A Locomotive Engine. 10. A Lime-Kiln. II. A Camera. 12. An Ice-Cream Freezer. 13. A Soda-Water Fountain. 14. An Electric Battery. 15. A Trolley-Car. COMPOSITION 2.-Explain the operation of one of the following:-1. The Post Office (collection, sorting, forwarding, delivery of mail). 2. The Newspaper (collection, sorting, printing of matter, delivery). 3. A Bank. 4. An Insurance Company. 5. A Town Council. 6. A Municipal Election. 7. A General Election.

CHAPTER III.-DEFINITION OF TERMS.

LESSON LXXII.

I. THEME: CHEERFULNESS.

I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as a habit of the mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth, who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy. On the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks

through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

-Joseph Addison. From" The Spectator." STUDY OF EXPOSITION.-The foregoing paragraph shows how the meaning of a term may be made clear by comparison with another object having something of the same quality, and by the analogy of well-known objects (daylight and lightning) standing to each other in a similar relation.

EXERCISE I.-Re-state in your own words the comparison of cheerfulness and mirth, and the analogy of the daylight and lightning.

EXERCISE II.-Explain the term melancholy by comparison with grief and sadness, using the analogy of storm, twilight, night.

EXERCISE III.-Explain the term courage by comparison with rashness, audacity, and heroism.

EXERCISE IV.-Explain the term humble by comparison with shy, bashful, meek.

2. THEME: WHAT IS PREACHING?

[1] Preaching is the communication of truth by man to man. [2] It has in it two essential elements, [a] truth and [6] personality. [3] Neither of those can it spare and still be preaching. [4] The truest truth, the most authoritative statement of God's will, communicated in any other way than through the personality of man to men, is not preached truth. [5] Suppose it written on the sky, suppose it embodied in a book that has been so long held in reverence as the direct utterance of God that the vivid personality of the men who wrote its pages has well nigh faded out of it; in neither of these cases