4. Explain why the writer refers to the fashions of savages.
5. By what means does the writer give interest to her work?
6. How does the essay differ from an ordinary informational
article?
7. What advantage does the writer gain by referring to various
works of literature?
8. How does the writer avoid harshness of criticism?
9. What is the general plan of the essay?
10. What does the article show concerning Miss Repplier?
SUBJECTS FOR WRITTEN IMITATION
1. Fashions for Men 11. Children's Clothes
2. Jewelry 12. Style in Shoes
3. Good Manners 13. Social Customs
4. Table Etiquette 14. Street Behavior
5. Neckties 15. Ribbons
6. Dancing 16. School Yells
7. Spoken English 17. Slang
8. Stockings 18. Hair Dressing
9. Buttons 19. The Use of Mirrors
10. Exercise 20. Walking
DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING
Your object is to write, in a critical vein, about some modern
custom, and to write without bitterness. Embody your criticism in
mild humor. Find something good even in the midst of what is bad.
Above all, draw definite examples from literature and history, in
order to make your thought have weight.
FOOTNOTES:
[152] Lord Frederic Hamilton (1856--). An English diplomat and editor.
He has travelled in many lands. Among his works are: _The Holiday
Adventures of Mr. P. J. Davenant_; _Lady Eleanor_; _The Vanished Pomps
of Yesterday_.
[153] Empress Eugenia (1826-1920). A Spanish Countess who in 1853
became the wife of Napoleon III of France and the natural leader of
French society.
[154] Blanchisseuse de fin. A laundress.
[155] Tierra del Fuegian. An inhabitant of the archipelago at the
extreme southern end of South America.
[156] John Evelyn (1620-1706). The author of a diary kept from
1624-1706 in which he gives a wealth of information concerning life in
his period.
[157] Charles I (1600-1649). King of England from 1625 to 1649. He
was overthrown and beheaded by the adherents of the parliamentary, or
Puritan, forces.
[158] Robert Herrick (1591-1674). An English poet, author of many
charming poems, one of which is _Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May_.
POETIC PROSE
CHILDREN
By YUKIO OZAKI
_Madame Ozaki is the wife of a former mayor of Tokyo and former
Minister of Justice in the Okuma Cabinet. She writes for many
magazines. Among her books are:_ Warriors of Old Japan; The
Japanese Fairy Book; Romances of Old Japan.
=The essay is so natural an expression of the writer's personality
that it has much in common with lyric poetry. Both the essay and
the lyric, at their best, are ardent expressions of self. When
the emotion in either is deep and genuine the language takes on
richness of rhythm, and the effect becomes entirely poetic. Many of
the best essays contain passages that in all except meter and rime
are poems,--prose poems.=
=_Children_ is an example of highly poetic prose.=
Let us love our children serenely, devotedly, even passionately. Surely
in their innocence and angelic simplicity they play on the threshold
of heaven. Let us hush our noisy activities and stale anxieties, and
under the trees and in the open that they love listen to the words of
refreshing wisdom dropping like jewels from their naïve lips.
Let us be willing to sit at their dainty little feet, so unused to the
dusty roads of this world, and learn from them divinest lessons. Let us
with uplifted hearts realize our responsibility when with unconscious
humility they accept us as their guides in the sweet, fresh morning of
their lives.
O sister-mothers in the world, let us awaken to a deeper sense of this
sublime trust, our high charge in the care of these immortal treasures,
only for a little while, such a little while, given into our keeping!
Let us make our hearts, our minds, our consciences worthy of these
transcendent marvels of life!
Oh, joy of joys! Oh, purest wonder! How often my children lift the
invisible veils that hide undreamed-of casements opening out on
luminous vistas of the mystical world in which they wander, roaming
fancy-free with keen and wondering delight!
Take me with you, oh, take me with you, children mine, when with
bright eyes and with kindled imagination, all spirit, fire and dew,
you sally forth on these highroads of discovery, to the elysiums of
your day-dreams, peopled by the souls of birds, animals, flowers and
pictures in happy communion!
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS
1. Point out examples of rhythmical sentences.
2. Point out figures of speech.
3. Point out words that have been chosen because of their charm, or
their suggestive power.
4. Show how the selection rises in emotion.
5. How do children “play on the threshold of heaven”?
6. What “refreshing wisdom” do children express?
7. What “divinest lessons” may we learn from children?
8. What “undreamed of casements” do children open?
9. Explain the last paragraph.
10. Point out all the respects in which this selection is like a
poem.
SUBJECTS FOR WRITTEN IMITATION
1. The Baby 11. Dreams
2. The Helpless 12. Beautiful Views
3. The Old 13. The Sunshine
4. Father and Mother 14. Summer
5. Grandmother 15. Favorite Flowers
6. Home 16. Birds
7. Playmates 17. My Dog
8. Memories 18. The Garden
9. Holidays 19. Snow
10. Ambitions 20. Sunrise
DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING
In order to write poetic prose you must write from genuine
emotion. Write about something that you really love. Choose your
words so that they will most clearly reveal your feelings. Think
of the deeper meanings and of the greater values of your subject.
Make your essay increase steadily in power until the very end.
Make it, like a good lyric poem, reveal the writer's best self in one
of his noblest moments.
SHIPS THAT LIFT TALL SPIRES OF CANVAS[159]
By RALPH D. PAINE
_(1871--). An American author and journalist, especially noted
for excellent work as a war correspondent. Among his many books
concerning the sea are the following:_ The Praying Skipper, and
Other Stories; The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem; The Judgments of
the Sea; The Adventures of Captain O'Shea; The Fighting Fleets; The
Fight for a Free Sea. He is a frequent contributor to magazines.
=_Ships That Lift Tall Spires of Canvas_ is practically a poem,
although it is written in prose. It is an emotional expression
of admiration for the sailing vessels of the past, and for the
gallant sailors who manned them. It is evident that the author is
familiar with many stories of romantic voyages and grim adventure
on the deep, and that his emotion springs from his knowledge. That
genuineness of feeling did much to lead him to choose suggestive
words and to write in balanced and rhythmical sentences. All good
style comes in large part from earnestness of thought or depth of
emotion, and in smaller degree from knowledge of the rhetorical
means of conveying thought or emotion.=
=Oh, night and day the ships come in,
The ships both great and small,
But never one among them brings
A word of him at all.
From Port o' Spain and Trinidad,
From Rio or Funchal,
And along the coast of Barbary.=
Steam has not banished from the deep sea the ships that lift tall
spires of canvas to win their way from port to port. The gleam of their
topsails recalls the centuries in which men wrought with stubborn
courage to fashion fabrics of wood and cordage that would survive the
enmity of the implacable ocean and make the winds obedient. Their
genius was unsung, their hard toil forgotten, but with each generation
the sailing ship became nobler and more enduring, until it was a
perfect thing. Its great days live in memory with a peculiar atmosphere
of romance. Its humming shrouds were vibrant with the eternal call of
the sea, and in a phantom fleet pass the towering East Indiaman, the
hard-driven Atlantic packet, and the gracious clipper that fled before
the Southern trades.
A hundred years ago every bay and inlet of the New England coast were
building ships that fared bravely forth to the West Indies, to the
roadsteads of Europe, to the mysterious havens of the Far East. They
sailed in peril of pirate and privateer, and fought these rascals as
sturdily as they battled with wicked weather. Coasts were unlighted,
the seas uncharted, and navigation was mostly guesswork, but these
seamen were the flower of an American merchant marine whose deeds are
heroic in the nation's story. Great hearts in little ships, they dared
and suffered with simple, uncomplaining fortitude. Shipwreck was an
incident, and to be adrift in lonely seas or cast upon a barbarous
shore was sadly commonplace. They lived the stuff that made fiction
after they were gone.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of the most effective adjectives in the selection.
2. Make a list of the words that do most to suggest the sea.
3. Read aloud the most effective sentences.
4. Point out examples of balanced construction.
5. Show that the author has indicated the entire field of the
subject.
6. In what ways is the selection poetic?
7. What famous books tell stories of sailing vessels?
8. What books of the sea did Fenimore Cooper write?
SUBJECTS FOR WRITTEN IMITATION
1. Old Gardens 11. My Grandmother
2. Farm Houses 12. Old Letters
3. My Childhood Home 13. A Happy Day
4. Mothers 14. The Old Soldier
5. Flowers 15. A Relic
6. Memories 16. A Familiar Street
7. Old School-books 17. Changes
8. Old Friends 18. Souvenirs
9. Childhood Games 19. Skating
10. Favorite Stories 20. Summer Days
[Illustration: =“Its humming shrouds were vibrant with the eternal call
of the sea.”=] (_page 287_)
DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING
The subject that you select must be one concerning which you
know a great deal. It must be one that exists not only in your
brain but also in your heart.
When you have selected your subject make a list of the points that
appeal to you most, and that will represent every side of the subject.
When you write, let your emotion guide your pen. At the same time make
every effort to select words that will be full of suggestive power.
Write easily and rhythmically, and let your work end, as Mr. Paine's
does, in an especially effective sentence.
FOOTNOTES:
[159] From “Lost Ships and Lonely Seas,” by Ralph D. Paine. Copyright
by the Century Co.
PERSONALITY IN CORRESPONDENCE
By THEODORE ROOSEVELT and AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
_(1858-1919). Twenty-sixth President of the United States. One of
the most vigorous, courageous and picturesque figures in the public
life of his day. Soon after his graduation from Harvard, and from
Columbia Law School he entered public life, and gave invaluable
service in many positions, becoming President in 1901, and again
in 1904. His work as an organizer of the “Rough Riders,” his skill
in horsemanship, his courage as an explorer and hunter, and his
staunch patriotism and high ideals all made him both interesting
and beloved. His work as an author is alone sufficient to make
him great. Among his many books are_ The Winning of the West; The
Strenuous Life; African Game Trails; True Americanism.
_(1848-1907). One of the greatest American sculptors. His statues
of Admiral Farragut, Abraham Lincoln, The Puritan, Peter Cooper,
and General Sherman are noble examples of his art. Many other works
of sculpture, including the beautiful “Diana” on Madison Square
Garden Tower, New York, attest his rare skill. He excelled in what
is called “relief.” His influence on American art was remarkably
great. His portrait-plaque of Robert Louis Stevenson is especially
interesting to lovers of literature._
=The essay and the friendly letter are closely related. It is
natural for one who writes a friendly letter to express himself
freely and intimately, to make wise or humorous comments on life,
to write meditatively of all the things that interest him,--in
fact, to reveal himself in full. To do all that, even within the
limited form of the letter, is to write an approach to an essay.
Almost any one of the essays in this book might have been written
as part of a friendly letter.=
=The spirit of the essay, that of personality, should enter into all
letters except those that are purely formal in nature. In fact, the
amount of personality expressed in a letter is, often, a measure of
the success of the letter.=
=The following letters written by Theodore Roosevelt and Augustus
Saint-Gaudens are, in a sense, business letters. In 1905 Mr.
Roosevelt was president of the United States. He believed that
the coins of the United States, like the coins of the ancient
Greeks, should be beautiful. That he had the highest respect for
the great sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, is shown by a letter
that he wrote in 1903 concerning the impressively beautiful
statue of General Sherman, that now stands at the 59th Street
entrance to Central Park, New York City. In 1905 Mr. Roosevelt met
Mr. Saint-Gaudens at a dinner in Washington and talked with him
concerning the coinage of the United States and the possibility
of improving it. The letters given in this book are part of the
correspondence that followed this conversation.=
=Both men had serious purpose in writing and both were intensely
practical; yet each man wrote in a manner that is exceedingly
personal. The letters have something of the spirit of the essay.=
THE STATUE OF GENERAL SHERMAN
WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
OYSTER BAY, N. Y.
August 3, 1903.
Personal
_My dear Mr. Saint-Gaudens_:
Your letter was a great relief and pleasure to me. I had been told
that it was you personally who had opposed ----. I have no claim to be
listened to about these matters, save such claim as a man of ordinary
cultivation has. But I do think that ----, like Proctor, has done
excellent work in his wild-beast figures.
By the way, I was very glad that the Grant decision in Washington went
the way it did. The rejected figure, it seemed to me, fell between
two schools. It suggested allegory; and yet it did not show that high
quality of imagination which must be had when allegory is suggested.
The figure that was taken is the figure of the great general, the great
leader of men. It is not the greatest type of statue for the very
reason that there is nothing of the allegorical, nothing of the highest
type of the imaginative in it. But it is a good statue. Now to my mind
your Sherman is the greatest statue of a commander in existence. But I
can say with all sincerity that I know of no man--of course of no one
living--who could have done it. To take grim, homely, old Sherman, the
type and ideal of a democratic general, and put with him an allegorical
figure such as you did, could result in but one of two ways--a
ludicrous failure or striking the very highest note of the sculptor's
art. Thrice over for the good fortune of our countrymen, it was given
to you to strike this highest note.
Always faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont.
The Roosevelt-Saint-Gaudens Correspondence Concerning Coinage
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Nov. 6, 1905.
_My dear Saint-Gaudens_:
How is that old gold coinage design getting along? I want to make
a suggestion. It seems to me worth while to try for a really good
coinage; though I suppose there will be a revolt about it! I was
looking at some gold coins of Alexander the Great to-day, and I was
struck by their high relief. Would it not be well to have our coins in
high relief, and also to have the rims raised? The point of having the
rims raised would be, of course, to protect the figure on the coin;
and if we have the figures in high relief, like the figures on the old
Greek coins, they will surely last longer. What do you think of this?
With warm regards.
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.
WINDSOR, VERMONT, Nov. 11, 1905.
_Dear Mr. President_:
You have hit the nail on the head with regard to the coinage. Of course
the great coins (and you might almost say the only coins) are the Greek
ones you speak of, just as the great medals are those of the fifteenth
century by Pisanello and Sperandio. Nothing would please me more than
[Illustration] [Illustration]
Obverse of the ten-dollar gold Obverse of the ten-dollar gold
piece, in high relief, and before piece with the Roosevelt feather
the addition of the head-dress, head-dress. Before the relief was
on President Roosevelt's suggestion. radically lowered for minting.
[Illustration] [Illustration]
Liberty obverse of the Liberty obverse of the
twenty-dollar gold piece as twenty-dollar gold piece. The
finally designed. The relief, head-dress, President Roosevelt's
however, was made lower before idea, was later eliminated on this
minting. figure as too small to be
effective on the actual coin.
to make the attempt in the direction of the heads of Alexander, but
the authorities on modern monetary requirements would, I fear, “throw
fits,” to speak emphatically, if the thing was done now. It would be
great if it could be accomplished and I do not see what the objection
would be if the edges were high enough to prevent rubbing. Perhaps an
inquiry from you would not receive the antagonistic reply from those
who have the say in such matters that would certainly be made to me.
Up to the present I have done no work on the actual models for the
coins, but have made sketches, and the matter is constantly in my mind.
I have about determined on the composition of one side, which would
contain an eagle very much like the one I placed on your medal with
a modification that would be advantageous. On the other side I would
place a (possibly winged) figure of liberty striding energetically
forward as if on a mountain top holding aloft on one arm a shield
bearing the Stars and Stripes with the word “Liberty” marked across the
field, in the other hand, perhaps, a flaming torch. The drapery would
be flowing in the breeze. My idea is to make it a _living_ thing and
typical of progress.
Tell me frankly what you think of this and what your ideas may be. I
remember you spoke of the head of an Indian. Of course that is always
a superb thing to do, but would it be a sufficiently clear emblem of
Liberty as required by law?
I send you an old book on coins which I am certain you will find of
interest while waiting for a copy that I have ordered from Europe.
Faithfully yours,
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Nov. 14, 1905.
_My dear Mr. Saint-Gaudens_:
I have your letter of the 11th instant and return herewith the book on
coins, which I think you should have until you get the other one. I
have summoned all the mint people, and I am going to see if I cannot
persuade them that coins of the Grecian type but with the raised rim
will meet the commercial needs of the day. Of course I want to avoid
too heavy an outbreak of the mercantile classes, because after all
it is they who do use the gold. If we can have an eagle like that on
the Inauguration Medal, only raised, I should feel that we would be
awfully fortunate. Don't you think that we might accomplish something
by raising the figures more than at present but not as much as in the
Greek coins? Probably the Greek coins would be so thick that modern
banking houses, where they have to pile up gold, would simply be unable
to do so. How would it do to have a design struck off in a tentative
fashion--that is, to have a model made? I think your Liberty idea is
all right. Is it possible to make a Liberty with that Indian feather
head-dress? Would people refuse to regard it as a Liberty? The figure
of Liberty as you suggest would be beautiful. If we get down to
bed-rock facts would the feather head-dress be any more out of keeping
with the rest of Liberty than the canonical Phrygian cap which never is
worn and never has been worn by any free people in the world?
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.
WINDSOR, VERMONT, Nov. 22, 1905.
_Dear Mr. President_:
Thank you for your letter of the 14th and the return of the book on
coins.
I can perfectly well use the Indian head-dress on the figure of
Liberty. It should be very handsome. I have been at work for the last
two days on the coins and feel quite enthusiastic about it.
I enclose a copy of a letter to Secretary Shaw which explains itself.
If you are of my opinion and will help, I shall be greatly obliged.
Faithfully yours,
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS.
[Hand-written postscript.]
I think something between the high relief of the Greek coins and the
extreme low relief of the modern work is possible, and as you suggest,
I will make a model with that in view.
WINDSOR, VERMONT, Nov. 22, 1905.
HON. L. M. SHAW,
Secretary of the Treasury,
Washington, D. C.
_Dear Sir_:
I am now engaged on the models for the coinage. The law calls for,
viz., “On one side there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty,
with an inscription of the word 'liberty' and the year of the coinage.”
It occurs to me that the addition on this side of the coins of the word
“Justice” (or “Law,” preferably the former) would add force as well as
elevation to the meaning of the composition. At one time the words “In
God we trust” were placed on the coins. I am not aware that there was
authorization for that, but I may be mistaken.
Will you kindly inform me whether what I suggest is possible.
Yours very truly,
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Nov. 24, 1905.
_My dear Mr. Saint-Gaudens_:
This is first class. I have no doubt we can get permission to put on
the word “Justice,” and I firmly believe that you can evolve something
that will not only be beautiful from the artistic standpoint, but
that, between the very high relief of the Greek and the very low relief
of the modern coins, will be adapted both to the mechanical necessities
of our mint production and the needs of modern commerce, and yet will
be worthy of a civilized people--which is not true of our present coins.
Faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Jan. 6, 1906.
_My dear Saint-Gaudens_:
I have seen Shaw about that coinage and told him that it was my pet
baby. We will try it anyway, so you go ahead. Shaw was really very
nice about it. Of course he thinks I am a mere crack-brained lunatic
on the subject, but he said with great kindness that there was always
a certain number of gold coins that had to be stored up in vaults, and
that there was no earthly objection to having those coins as artistic
as the Greeks could desire. (I am paraphrasing his words, of course.) I
think it will seriously increase the mortality among the employees of
the mint at seeing such a desecration, but they will perish in a good
cause!
Always yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 1, 1906.
Personal
_My dear Mr. Saint-Gaudens_:
The mint people have come down, as you can see from the enclosed letter
which is in answer to a rather dictatorial one I sent to the Secretary
of the Treasury. When can we get that design for the twenty-dollar
gold piece? I hate to have to put on the lettering, but under the law
I have no alternative; yet in spite of the lettering I think, my dear
sir, that you have given us a coin as wonderful as any of the old Greek
coins. I do not want to bother you, but do let me have it as quickly as
possible. I would like to have the coin well on the way to completion
by the time Congress meets.
It was such a pleasure seeing your son the other day.
Please return Director Roberts' letter to me when you have noted it.
Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
December 11, 1906.
_My dear Mr. Saint-Gaudens_:
I hate to trouble you, but it is very important that I should have the
models for those coins at once. How soon may I have them?
With all good wishes, believe me,
Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.
WINDSOR, VERMONT, December 19, 1906.
_Dear Mr. President_:
I am afraid from the letter sent you on the fourteenth with the models
for the Twenty-Dollar Gold piece that you will think the coin I sent
you was unfinished. This is not the case. It is the final and completed
model, but I hold myself in readiness to make any such modifications as
may be required in the reproduction of the coin.
This will explain the words, “test model” on the back of each model.