Part 6 (1/2)

II

James M. I. Galloway, veterinary surgeon of Kirkintilloch, Scotland, arrived yesterday from Glasgow with photographs of a cow with a wooden leg on the starboard quarter, which the veterinary says is almost as good to the cow as an ordinary leg of beef and much more effective in knocking out folks who try to milk her on the wrong side.

Other veterinaries laughed at Galloway, who is young and of an experimental temperament, when he decided to save the life of this cow after the leg had been cut off by a locomotive. He insisted, however, on fitting the wooden leg, which he regards as much more useful than wooden heads on Scotch veterinaries.

The only time the wooden leg gets the cow into trouble is when she stands too long in a damp field and the leg sinks in a foot or so.

III

The written orders of Mr. J. W. Brooks, a once celebrated American railroad manager of Michigan, were, it is said, almost beyond deciphering. On a certain occasion, when a double track had been laid on one of his roads, it was reported at headquarters that the barn of an old farmer stood partly upon land which the company had bought, and dangerously near to pa.s.sing trains. Mr. Brooks, who was just getting ready for a trip down the Mississippi, wrote to the farmer that he must move his barn from the company's land at once. If he delayed he would be liable to a suit for damages. The old farmer duly received the letter, and was able to make out the manager's signature, but not another word could he decipher. He took it to the village postmaster, who, equally unable to translate the hieroglyphics, was unwilling to acknowledge it. ”Didn't you sell a strip of land to the railroad?” he asked. ”Yes.” ”Well, I guess this is a free pa.s.s over the road.” And for over a year the farmer used the manager's letter as a pa.s.s, not one of the conductors being able to dispute his translation of the instrument.

IV. Notes and Queries

1. A good story always has three parts: (1) A Situation; (2) a Climax; (3) a Solution. Do the models possess these elements? If they do, point them out.

2. Point out the ”Four W's” in each.

3. Tell whether each sentence is simple, complex, or compound.

4. Tell why each mark of punctuation is used.

5. Tell why each capital letter is used.

6. Explain the syntax of the adjectives in I, the adverbs in II, the prepositions in III.

7. Explain the etymological signification of the following words: ”solution”; ”fowl”; ”constable”; ”photographs”; ”veterinary”; ”locomotive”; ”decipher”; ”liable”; ”translate”; ”hieroglyphics”; ”conductors.”

8. Find on the map Uniontown, Arnold City, Kirkintilloch, Michigan, and the Mississippi River.

9. Explain the reference in ”Solomonesque.”

10. What are ”costs”?

11. Find a metaphor in II.

V. Suggested Time Schedule

As usual, except that on Friday one number of the program may be a magazine composed of the best stories written during the week by pupils.

VI. Oral Composition

Be sure that your story has a good point; is free from slang; and possesses a beginning, a middle, and an end.

VII. Written Composition

_Suggestion_: Imagine that the cla.s.sroom is the local room of a daily paper, the pupils reporters, and the teacher the editor. The stories may be written in cla.s.s.