In writing a conversation, try to give variety by using different words to introduce the quotation. Notice the following: said he, answered his mother, eagerly inquired. Here are some other words you might use in introducing quotations: inquired, cried, replied, whispered, called, asked. See if you can think of others. Write one paragraph, using direct quotation, in which Ernest's mother tells him the story of the Great Stone Face. Before handing in your paper, notice with care whether you have used quotation marks correctly.

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THE GREAT STONE FACE (Continued)

ABOUT this time, there went a rumor throughout the valley that the great man, foretold from ages long ago, who was to bear a resemblance to the Great Stone Face, had appeared at last. It seems that, many years before, a young man had left the valley and settled at a 5 distant seaport, where, after getting together a little money, he had set up as a shopkeeper. His name — but I could never learn whether it was his real one, or a nickname that had grown out of his habits and success in life was Gathergold.

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It might be said of him, as of Midas in the fable, that whatever he touched with his finger immediately glistened, and grew yellow, and was changed at once into coin. And when Mr. Gathergold had become so rich that it would have taken him a hundred years only 15 to count his wealth, he bethought himself of his native

valley, and resolved to go back thither, and end his days where he was born. With this purpose in view, he sent a skillful architect to build him such a palace as should be fit for a man of his vast wealth to live in. 5 As I have said above, it had already been rumored in the valley that Mr. Gathergold had turned out to be the person so long and vainly looked for, and that his visage was the perfect and undeniable likeness of the Great Stone Face. People were the more ready to believe 10 that this must needs be the fact when they beheld the splendid edifice that rose, as if by enchantment, on the site of his father's old weather-beaten farmhouse. The exterior was of marble, so dazzling white that it seemed as though the whole structure might melt away in the 15 sunshine, like those humbler ones which Mr. Gathergold, in his young playdays, had been accustomed to build of snow. It had a richly ornamented portico, supported by tall pillars, beneath which was a lofty door, studded with silver knobs, and made of a kind of variegated 20 wood that had been brought from beyond the sea. The windows, from the floor to the ceiling of each stately apartment, were each composed of but one enormous pane of glass. Hardly anybody Hardly anybody had been permitted to see the interior of this palace; but it was reported to be 25 far more gorgeous than the outside, insomuch that whatever was iron or brass in other houses was silver or gold in this; and Mr. Gathergold's bedchamber, especially,

made such a glittering appearance that no ordinary man would have been able to close his eyes there. But, on the other hand, Mr. Gathergold was now so accustomed to wealth that perhaps he could not have closed his eyes unless where the gleam of it was certain to find its way 5 beneath his eyelids.

In due time, the mansion was finished; next came the upholsterers, with magnificent furniture; then a whole troop of black and white servants, the harbingers of Mr. Gathergold, who, in his own majestic person, was 10 expected to arrive at sunset. Our friend Ernest, meanwhile, had been deeply stirred by the idea that the great man, the noble man, the man of prophecy, after so many ages of delay, was at length to appear in his native valley. He knew, boy as he was, that there were a 15 thousand ways in which Mr. Gathergold, with his vast wealth, might transform himself into an angel of beneficence, and assume a control over human affairs as wide and benignant as the smile of the Great Stone Face. Full of faith and hope, Ernest doubted not that what the 20 people said was true, and that now he was to behold the living likeness of those wondrous features on the mountain side. While the boy was still gazing up the valley, and fancying, as he always did, that the Great Stone Face returned his gaze and looked kindly at him, the rumbling 25 of wheels was heard, approaching swiftly along the winding road.

"Here he comes!" cried a group of people who were assembled to witness the arrival. "Here comes the great Mr. Gathergold!"

A carriage, drawn by four horses, dashed round the 5 turn of the road. Within it, thrust partly out of the window, appeared the face of a little old man, with a skin as yellow as gold. He had a low forehead, small, sharp eyes, puckered about with innumerable wrinkles, and very thin lips, which he made still thinner by press10 ing them forcibly together.

"The very image of the Great Stone Face!" shouted the people. "Sure enough, the old prophecy is true; and the great man has come at last!"

And, what greatly perplexed Ernest, they seemed act15 ually to believe that here was the likeness which they spoke of. By the roadside there chanced to be an old beggar woman and two little beggar children, stragglers from some far-off region, who, as the carriage rolled onward, held out their hands and lifted up their doleful 20 voices, most piteously beseeching charity. A yellow claw

- the very same that had clawed together so much wealth - poked itself out of the coach window, and dropped some copper coins upon the ground; so that, though the great man's name seems to have been Gathergold, he might 25 just as suitably have been nicknamed Scattercopper. Still, nevertheless, with an earnest shout, and evidently with as much good faith as ever, the people bellowed:

"He is the very image of the Great Stone Face!"

But Ernest turned sadly from the wrinkled shrewdness of that visage and gazed up the valley, where, amid a gathering mist, gilded by the last sunbeams, he could still distinguish those glorious features which had 5 impressed themselves into his soul. Their aspect cheered him. What did the benign lips seem to say?

"He will come! Fear not, Ernest; the man will come!" -NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE: Twice-Told Tales.

In the old fable King Midas turned all he touched into gold. The tale is told in Hawthorne's The Golden Touch. portico, porch; variegated, of several colors; harbingers, those who go before to prepare the way; beneficence, good deeds; benignant, kindly, charitable; benign, kindly.

What great man is now introduced into the story? Why was he called Mr. Gathergold? Who was Midas? Describe Mr. Gathergold's palace. In the third paragraph we find still another synonym for face. What is it? Describe Mr. Gathergold's appearance. Can you tell a person's character by looking at his face? What action showed Mr. Gathergold's character? How was Ernest comforted in his disappointment? Can you see clearly in your mind the Great Stone Face as Hawthorne describes it in this paragraph? Spelling. Portico, innumerable, beseeching, shrewdness, archi

tect.

Be prepared to write sentences containing these words. It is very important that you should know how to spell the words you use constantly. Write correctly in a blank book all the words you misspell in any written exercise. Study them frequently.

Figurative Language. You have learned how authors sometimes help us to see things more clearly by making pictures with words, that is, by figurative language, instead of telling the thing in