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It enlivens and embellishes it, by bringing striking pictures before the mind.

What is meant by attributing sex to an inanimate object? Speaking of it as he or she; thus we say of the sun, "he sheds his light over hill and dale," of a ship, "how bravely she rides the waves."

EXERCISE.

Make sentences, each of which shall contain one of the following words personified.

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THE pupil is now prepared for exercises in any department of prose composition. As a great deal of time is often lost in the selection of themes, a list of subjects is here subjoined, each of which, if properly treated, will be found sufficient for one exercise. They have been so arranged, as far as possible, as to make the progress in difficulty regular, but exceedingly gradual; and the author would

advise that they be taken in turn, in the order in which they are here presented. It will be well for the teacher to prescribe some limit of length— that no composition, for instance, contain less than thirty lines of manuscript.

Before entering on this list of subjects, if there be any part of the book with which the pupil is not familiar, it will be best for him to review it.

LETTERS.

1. Write a letter to your teacher, giving an account of the manner in which you spent your last vacation.

2. Write to a friend, describing your sister's wedding, and the festivities on that occasion.

3. Write to a cousin in the country, giving an account of a concert, the Museum, or any place of public amusement which you may have recently visited.

4. Write to a parent, or other relative, travelling in Europe, about domestic matters.

5. Write an answer to the preceding letter, in which the parent would naturally give some account of his travels in Europe.

6. Announce in a letter to a

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friend that his brother whom you knew, and who resided in the same place that you do, is dead. Give an account of his sickness. Offer such consolation as is in your power.

7. Write a note to a friend, requesting the loan of a volume.

Write a note, inviting a friend to spend the holidays at your father's house.

Write a note, regretting that prior engagements will compel you to decline a friend's invitation.

8. Write a letter to a merchant, applying for a situation as clerk, and stating your qualifications.

Write an answer from the merchant.

DESCRIPTIONS.

18. A Dry-goods Store.

19. Describe "A Steamboat" and "A Ship;" tell wherein they differ, and wherein they are alike.

20. Treat in like manner, "A Clock and a Watch."

21. A Bird and a Beast. 22. A Man and a Monkey.

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* For the Exercises in Fiction it will be necessary to draw on the imagination; in some cases it may be well for the teacher to assist the pupil with remarks on the subject. In the case of "the History of a Pin," it is necessary only to imagine some of the scenes that a pin would be likely to pass through, and to relate them as if the pin itself were speaking; thus, "The first recollections that I have," &c.

† In the Historical Narrations and Biographical Sketches, the pupil must obtain his facts from some history. He must clothe them, however, in his own language.

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182. "Beware of desperate steps; the darkest day— Live till to-morrow-will have passed away."

183. "There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough hew them how we may."

184. "Health is the vital principle of bliss."

185. "Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate." 186. "Be it ever so homely, there's no place like home." 187. "Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

Invisible except to God alone."

188. "Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's their will; And if Jove stray, who dares say, Jove doth ill."

189. "Sweet is the image of the brooding dove!

Holy as Heaven a mother's tender love!"

190. "The bolt that strikes the towering cedar dead,
Oft passes harmless o'er the hazel's head."
191. "Who by repentance is not satisfied,

Is nor of heaven, nor earth."

192. "Honor and shame from no condition rise;

Act well your part; there all the honor lies."

193. "Suspicion is a heavy armor, and

With its own weight impedes more than it protects."

194. "Treason does never prosper."

195. "I love thee, twilight! for thy gleams impart

Their dear, their dying influence to my heart."

196. "True charity's a plant divinely nursed."

197. "Good name in man and woman

Is the immediate jewel of their souls." 198. "Sweet are the uses of adversity."

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