Is this a good description? Why?

Can you not almost see Kit?

What words make the description so clear? Write them in a list.

To what class of words do most of them belong, nouns, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs? See page 161. See if you can use any other words in place of any of them without spoiling the picture.

Paint Kit in colors.

(2)

Read:

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

Who is that short, sturdy, plainly dressed man who stands with legs a little apart and hands behind his back, looking up with keen gray eyes into the face of each speaker? His cap is in his hands, so you can see the bullet head of crisp brown hair and the wrinkled forehead, as well as the high cheek bones, the short square face, the broad temples, the thick lips, which are yet as firm as granite. A coarse plebeian stamp of man; yet the whole figure and attitude are that of boundless determination, self-possession, energy; and when at last he speaks a few blunt words, all eyes are turned respectfully upon him, for his name is Francis Drake. CHARLES KINGSLEY.

Copy this description. Study it carefully, looking up in the dictionary any words that you do not know. Notice the order of the items described. First, those things that would naturally attract attention, size, appearance, dress, and attitude; second, those characteristics that one has to look more closely for, the shape of the head, the color of the hair, the face, the features; third, the impression left after close

observation, coarseness but energy, strength, power; finally, the attitude of others toward Drake, and, after interest and curiosity have been roused, his name.

(3)

Who was Sir Francis Drake?

Describe him in your own words.

Which description is better, yours or Kingsley's? Why?

Write separately the words that you think make clear the picture in Kingsley's description. Are they nouns, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs?

A description should be a picture in words.

Find other descriptions in books or elsewhere and bring them to class.

Tell which are good ones and why you think so.

Select some person that you have seen, if possible some one well known to the rest of the class, and write a description, choosing your words with care. Let the class guess who the person described is. Be careful as to the order of your description.

Paint in colors the person you have described, to illustrate your description.

A nice person is neither too tall nor too short, looks clean and cheerful, has no prominent features, makes no difficulties, is never misplaced, is never foolishly affronted, and is void of affectation. A nice person is never long and never

wrong, always knows the day of the month and the name of everybody at table, never knocks over melted butter, does not tread upon the dog's foot, or molest the family cat, eats soup without noise, laughs in the right place, and has a watchful and attentive eye.. SYDNEY SMITH.

Study the above description and see if you agree with the author as to what a nice person is.

Write the characteristics of an agreeable person as you believe them to be; also of a disagreeable person.

Read:

XIV

DESCRIPTIONS; OUTLINES

(1)

She was six feet high,

I was afraid of Miss McKenna. all yellow freckles and red hair, and was simply clad in white satin shoes, a pink muslin dress, an apple-green stuff sash, and black silk gloves, with yellow roses in her hair.

There was a man called Bronckhorst, a three-cornered, middle-aged man in the army, gray as a badger. Mrs. Bronckhorst was not exactly young, though fifteen years younger than her husband. She was a large, pale, quiet woman, with heavy eyelids over weak eyes, and hair that turned red or yellow as the lights fell on it. RUDYARD KIPLING.

Are these good descriptions? Can you see the people described? Paint pictures of them. Do you have any feeling of liking or dislike toward them? Make outlines of these descriptions.

Write in three paragraphs descriptions of three different people, telling as much as you can in a short

Waste no words; use only those that tell

space. something.

(2)

I was sitting at the open window early in the morning of the first of May. It was not yet dawn; there was a faint whiteness in the east; the warm, dark night was changing into the cold morning. No mists were rising, no breath of air stirred. All was colorless, soundless; yet one already felt the approach of day, and there was a strong dewy fragrance. - IVAN TOURGUENEFF.

Make an outline of the above description. Then write a description of some morning or evening or noon that you have noticed.

It is the last day of July: for a thousand miles on every side lies Russia, — home.

The whole sky is a shadowless blue; one little cloud only floats upon it and melts away. A windless, sultry calm; the air like warm milk.

The larks trill, the doves coo, the swallows sweep by with their swift and noiseless flight; the horses neigh and crop the grass; the dogs stand about, gently wagging their tails, but not barking.

There is a mingled smell of smoke, hay, tar, and leather. The hemp is ripe and gives forth its penetrating but pleasant odor.

Curly-headed children peep out from under heaps of hay; busy hens pick about after beetles and flies; a young dog is rolling on the grass.

Brown-haired lads in long, white blouses, belted at the waist, and with heavy boots on, are leaning against a cart and laughing together, and chaffing one another.

A young, round-faced woman looks out of the window, and laughs half at the boys and half at the children frolicking in the hay.

Another young woman is drawing with her stout arms a great dripping bucket out of the well. The bucket sways and trembles on the rope and lets fall long, sparkling drops.

An old woman is standing before me; she has on a new checked dress and new leather shoes.

Three rows of large glass beads encircle her withered, sunburnt throat; her gray hair is covered with a red-andyellow-striped kerchief, which hangs low over her dull eyes.

But the old eyes smile pleasantly, the whole of her wrinkled face smiles; the old creature must be nearly eighty years. Yet one can still see that she was beautiful as a girl.

The
On

The brown claw-like fingers of her right hand hold a cup which is full of cold milk, fresh from the cellar. outside of the cup is covered with drops of moisture. the palm of her left hand she reaches out to me a large slice of fresh black-bread. "Eat and may it do you good!"

This contentment, this rest and plenty in a free Russian village! Oh, this blessed quiet!

IVAN TOURGueneff.

This is a nearly perfect description. It is really a series of pictures, each distinct, yet all together showing you the village. Besides, the whole description gives what the author designed, a feeling of peace and quiet. Select a single one of the pictures and paint it in colors.