New Century Speaker and Writer: Being a Standard Work on Composition and Oratory

PART I.-HOW TO WRITE A COMPOSITION. PAGE Treatment of the Subject 18 Right Choice of Words 19 Obscure Sentences 19 Write Exactly what You Mean 20 What You Should Read 21 Our Great Writers 21 Learning to Think 22 How to Acquire a Captivating Style 23 Make Your Composition Attractive 24 The Choice of Language 25 Faults in Writing 26 Putting Words into Sentences 27 Suit the Word to the Thought 28 An Amusing Exercise 29 Errors to be Avoided 30 Exercises in Composition 32 Subject and Predicate 32 Practice in Simple Sentences 34 Sentences Combined 36 Punctuation 39 The Full Stop 39 The Note of Interrogation 40 The Comma 40 The Semi-colon 42 Quotation Marks 43 The Note of Exclamation 43 Exercises in Easy Narratives 46 Short Stories to be Written from Memory 47 Outlines to be Turned into Narratives 50 Stories in Verse to be Turned into Prose 51 Three Fishers Went Sailing 51 The Sands of Dee 52 The Way to Win 52 Press On 52 The Dying Warrior 52 The Boy that Laughs 53 The Cat's Bath 53 The Beggar Man 53 The Shower Bath 54 Queen Mary's Return to Scotland 54 The Eagle and Serpent 54 Ask and Have 55 What Was His Creed? 55 The Old Reaper 55 The Gallant Sailboat 55 Wooing 56 Miss Laugh and Miss Fret 56 Monterey 56 A Woman's Watch 57 Love Lightens Labor 57 Abou Ben Adhem 57 Essays to be Written from Outlines 58 Easy Subjects for Compositions 61 Use of Illustrations 62 Examples of Apt Illustrations 63 Examples of Faulty Illustrations 63 How to Compose and Write Letters 64 Examples of Letters 65 Notes of Invitation 65 Letters of Congratulation 66 Love Letters 66 Outlines to be Expanded into Letters 66 SPECIMENS OF ELEGANT COMPOSITION. Getting the Right Start J. G. Holland 67 Dinah, the Methodist George Eliot 69 Godfrey and Dunstan George Eliot 70 Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving 72 Puritans of the Sixteenth Century Lord Macaulay 73 On being in Time C. H. Spurgeon 75 John Ploughman's Talk on Home C. H. Spurgeon 76 Pearl and her Mother Nathaniel Hawthorne 78 Candace's Opinions Mrs. H. B. Stowe 80 Midsummer in the Valley of the Rhine Geo. Meredith 81 Power of Natural Beauty R. W. Emerson 82 SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITIONS. Historical Subjects 84 Biographical Subjects 85 Subjects for Narration and Description 86 Popular Proverbs 87 Subjects to be Expounded 87 Subjects for Argument 89 Subjects for Comparison 89 Miscellaneous Subjects 90 Synonyms and Antonyms 91 Noms de Plume of Authors 111 PART II.-READINGS AND RECITATIONS. How to Read and Recite 113 Cultivation of the Voice 113 Distinct Enunciation 113 Emphasis 114 Pauses 114 Gestures 114 The Magnetic Speaker 114 Self-Command 114 Typical Gestures for Reading and Reciting 115 Malediction 115 Designating 115 Silence 115 Repulsion 115 Declaring 116 Announcing 116 Discerning 116 Invocation 117 Presenting or Receiving 117 Horror 117 Exaltation 117 Secrecy 117 Wonderment 118 Indecision 118 Grief 118 Gladness 118 Signalling 119 Tender Rejection 119 Protecting-Soothing 119 Anguish 119 Awe-Appeal 120 Meditation 120 Defiance 120 Denying-Rejecting 120 Dispersion 121 Remorse 121 Accusation 121 Revealing 121 Correct Positions of the Hands 122 RECITATIONS WITH LESSON TALKS. Song of Our Soldiers at Santiago D. G. Adee 123 Lesson Talk 123 The Victor of Marengo 124 Lesson...