prompted the sending of the gift. It is true that sometimes you might have preferred some other gift to the one you got; but no doubt the giver thought he was making the best selection and you should thank him for his thought and kindness in making the gift. Most people do not like gushing thanks. They do not seem sincere, and therefore they miss their mark. The following specimen illustrates this point:

Thank you so very, very much for the darling little penwiper you sent me. It was just exactly what I wanted, and it was so sweet of you to send it. It is just beautiful. I have never seen a prettier penwiper, and it is just as useful as it is beautiful. It surely was just lovely of you to send it to me, and I thank you over and over for it. I think it is too sweet for anything.

All one can say about that kind of letter is "Don't!"

Be Thoughtful. It is not very good taste to tell the giver about the other presents you have received, for this leads to a comparison, which may make the giver feel that his present was not so acceptable as some of the others. Christmas letters often err in this respect. After thanking the giver for his present, the writer is likely to go on and tell all the other things he received. This does not interest the giver and may well be omitted. A few words or sentences of real, sincere thanks are in good taste and sure to be appreciated.

EXERCISE

Write a letter of thanks to some one who has made you a present

or has entertained you in some way.

XXIV. CIVIC STUDY FOR THE CLUB

Interest in Your Community. - How many of you know anything about the history of your community or about its industries and lines of communication with other parts of the world? Can you tell who are its important citizens and what they have done? Do you know what measures are taken to guard the safety and the health of its citizens? These are questions that come up in connection with your work in civics, and yet in English you can make use of much of the material you gather in other classes. In arranging a program on the community you may see how English and civics work together.

Planning the Program. As in preceding programs, it is well to divide the class into several groups, and let a committee plan the work for each group. One group, for example, may take the chief industries of the community and show what each industry contributes to the life of the

people. Another group may study the schools and churches and show what they are doing for the spiritual and intellectual improvement of society. A third group may consider the relations between your community and the rest of the world, and show how your railroads, hard roads, rivers, and harbors contribute toward commerce and increased intelligence. The work of sanitation, fire prevention, and police regulation may be studied by another group. The parks, playgrounds, art museums, and libraries furnish a fruitful subject for another group to study.

Giving the Program. After each student has made careful preparation for his particular part, the program may be given in the club. Each speaker must bear in mind that he has only a short time to speak and that he must make his point clearly and briefly. The audience will comment on what each speaker says, according to the plan suggested early in the book. Do not give general, pointless criticisms, but keep to the definite points suggested.

OTHER CIVIC TOPICS FOR CLUB PROGRAMS

How Our Community May Be Improved

The Opportunities of a Junior Civics League

Fire Prevention

Model Communities of the United States

The Prevention of Disease

EXERCISE LETTERS

1. Write a letter to the Health Commissioner of your city or your county, asking him to tell you what is being done to protect the health of the community.

2. Write a letter to the head of some industry, asking for definite information about that industry.

3. Write a letter to the nearest librarian, asking what the library is doing toward Americanization of foreigners.

An Outline Promotes Clearness. In our discussion of reading we said that every writer has in mind an outline of topic sentences which he expands into paragraphs. Such an outline is very necessary if the writer is to present his views to an audience or to a reader in such a way as to be clear and interesting. We sometimes hear a speaker who really knows his subject make a very poor job of telling about it because he has jumbled his ideas so that we cannot follow him to any definite point. In speaking or writing we should always have a definite goal toward which we work, just as we have in football or basket ball. The football team is successful in so far as it works toward its opponent's goal; and a speaker or a writer is successful just in so far as he brings his points in an orderly way toward his goal.

Planning a Talk. If you are to give a talk before your class, it will be necessary for you to marshal your ideas so that they will be orderly, with one main point leading to another. Suppose, for example, that you wish to tell the class how you made your bird house. You will think over the process until the various steps are quite clear in your own mind. Then you will plan an outline of sentences which may be expanded, as you talk, into fuller paragraphs. Your outline may have the following topic sentences:

1. I selected my lumber, made my measurements, and cut the pieces. 2. I fastened the pieces together.

3. I made the bird house convenient for the birds.

4. I painted the house.

5. The house is put to use.

Expanding the Outline. In expanding this outline you should tell in your first paragraph what kind of lumber was used, the measurements that were followed, how the pieces were cut. You must be careful to show just what each process has to do with the finished bird house, for otherwise your audience will probably lose interest in your details. Bear in mind through all your elaboration that you must keep your audience interested.

The second paragraph will be clearer if you draw on the blackboard a sketch of how the different pieces were joined together. Show when you used glue and when nails, and tell why each was used in that particular place.

In the third paragraph you can tell how and why you put in roosts and cut a hole for the birds to use in coming in and going out.

The fourth paragraph will be more interesting if you tell what color you painted the house and some of the difficulties or funny experiences you had in painting it.