legendary as well as to authentic history, and a knowledge of the legends to which allusion is most frequently made is necessary for an understanding of these. The legends of early Greece and Rome, and other countries, should be read, not only for the pleasure which will result from their perusal, but also for an understanding of the references made to them in literature.

Exercises

I. Name some distinctive characteristic of the following to which one might refer in making comparisons:

Nero, Socrates, Alexander, Leonidas, Cleopatra, Solon, Fabius, Robert Bruce, Napoleon, Thermopyla, Troy, Colossus of Rhodes, Golden Fleece, Star Chamber, Magna Charta, Reign of Terror, Waterloo, Eldorado.

II. Explain the figures in the following, giving the necessary information about the historical allusions:

1.

"Like Alexander, I will reign,
And I will reign alone;

My thoughts did evermore disdain
A rival on my throne."

2. I will make a star-chamber matter of it.

3. I summon in testimony the seas that beat around us, and which the Columbuses have passed beyond; I call upon yonder stars that shine above us, and which the Galilecs have questioned, to bear witness, exiles and brethren, that liberty can never die. - VICTOR HUGO.

4. The race is but a vast caravan forever moving but seeming often to encamp for centuries at some green oasis of ease, where luxury lures away heroism, as soft Capua enervated the hosts of Hannibal. — CURTIS.

5. This disappointment will prove the Waterloo of his ambition.

6.

7.

8.

Are there none to fight as Theseus fought,
Far in the young world's misty dawn?
Or teach as the gray-haired Nestor taught,
Mother earth! Are thy heroes gone?

Their armor rings on a fairer field

Than Greek or Trojan ever trod;

For freedom's sword is the blade they wield,
And the light above them the smile of God!
So in his isle of calm delight,

Jason may dream the years away,

But the heroes live and the skies are bright,
And the world is a braver world to-day.

- PROCTER.

Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on Alps;
And pyramids are pyramids in vales.

Each man makes his own statue, builds himself:
Virtue alone outlives the pyramids;

His monuments shall last when Egypt's fall.

- YOUNG.

Why man he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

SHAKESPEARE.

9. Wrapped in his sad-colored cloak the Day, like a Puritan, standeth

10.

Stern in the joyless fields, rebuking the lingering color.

- BAYARD TAYLOR.

Wisdom, though richer than Peruvian mines,
And sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive,
What is she, but the means of happiness?

- YOUNG.

11. "We are the Romans of the modern world, — the great, assimilating people."

12. Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold!

First pledge of blithsome May,

Which children pluck and full of pride uphold.

High-hearted Buccaneers, o'erjoyed that they
An Eldorado in the grass have found,

Which not the rich earth's ample round

Can match in wealth! — thou art more dear to me
Than all the prouder summer blooms may be.

From "To the Dandelion." - LOWELL.

13. Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my friend, the historian, in one of his flashing moments: "Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessities."- HOLMES.

III. Rewrite themes previously written, trying to improve comparisons used, and introducing others when they can be effectively used.

IV. Make outlines to indicate the topics you would treat in writing upon the following subjects:

1. The value of Friendship. (Use an illustration from history, the Bible, myth, or literature.)

2. The heroism of our forefathers.

3. A comparison of Portia ("Merchant of Venice”), and Rosalind ("As You Like It").

V. Select from these a subject upon which to write.

CHAPTER X

SENSE-TRAINING AIDS INTERPRETATION AND
EXPRESSION OF THOUGHT

SECTION XLI

Sense Impressions

WHEN considering the subject of comparison and the sources from which material for the stating or suggesting of resemblances is obtained, you found that literature is filled with allusions to natural phenomena. It is therefore necessary that you become acquainted with nature in order to understand these allusions, and to be able yourselves to draw from the rich store of literary material which nature offers. If you have never listened to the gentle ripple of the summer stream you will fail to appreciate the meaning and the beauty of the poet's lines in the following:

All the long August afternoon,

The little drowsy stream
Whispers a melancholy tune,

As if it dreamed of June
And whispered in its dreams.

- HOWELLS.

If you have not trained your ears to catch the many sounds which may be heard in the country on a summer day, the following will have little interest and meaning for you; but if you, like the poet, have listened to these sounds, you can at once enter into his thoughts and emotions as memory calls up just such a day and scene as is here presented.

No rude noise insults the listening ear;

Naught but soft zephyrs whispering through the trees,
Or the still humming of the peaceful bees;
The gentle murmurs of a purling rill,
Or the unwearied chirping of the drill;
The charming harmony of warbling birds,
Or hollow lowings of the grazing herds;
The murmuring stockdoves' melancholy coo,
Then they their loved mates lament or woo.

THOMSON.

To enjoy Nature One must Observe. If a person has gone about with his eyes closed to the beauties of the morning or the evening sky, of the landscape with its stretch of woodland, its hills and dales, its winding streams, its placid lake, and other features, his emotions will not be awakened by the pictures which other persons, who have their eyes open to perceive the beauties around them, present of grand views and enchanting glimpses. If he has never noted with delight the "myriad dyes" with which nature paints the flowers, he cannot feel the beauty of the poet's reference to color, if he can even say whether he has ever seen the colors mentioned. To such a person the literary allusions to the beauties of nature call up no memories, stir no emotion, touch no sympathetic chord; but if a person has accustomed his eyes to see and distinguish the colors in the sunset sky, of the flowers in the woods and meadows, of the leaves in the glorious autumn, he can understand and feel what others have felt in the contemplation of nature's coloring, and even on the darkest winter day can recall and enjoy the beauties of the summer.

Thus, if you wish to understand and enjoy the allusions to nature with which literature is filled, you must train and accustom your eyes, your ears, and all your senses to receive the impressions which nature gives. If you have