DEVICES TO USE IN TELLING A STORY

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"You don't know that story well enough to tell it." No one likes to hear a story haltingly told.

2. Make an Interesting Beginning. — The beginning of the story must arouse interest and awaken the feeling that the climax is to stir. Make your beginning interesting; the shorter the better. There should be no long explanation or description. The successful story "must catch the interest of the audience the moment the curtain rises."

Miss Bailey tells of a settlement worker who had tried in vain to awaken interest in a group of rough boys, who made so much noise that they could not even hear her speak. After a while, in a moment's interval of silence, she began: "There was once a little Indian boy who rode fifty miles on the cowcatcher of an engine." Instantly there was silence in the room and the boys waited for this interesting beginning to be developed. Had the story-teller used a more conventional beginning, such as, "Fifty years ago there were few railroads in the western part of the country. The prairies were peopled by Comanche tribes who were unfamiliar with the inventions of civilization, and the first train that ran through an Indian village inspired an Indian lad to a strange deed," it is probable that not a boy would have listened. But she caught them off their guard by an unexpected attack on their interest.

3. Work Toward the Climax. In preparing to tell a story keep the climax always in mind, and be sure that everything you tell has some bearing upon this central point. No matter how attractive a descriptive passage may be, unless it has some vital relation to the climax it should be cut out. The climax must be kept as a surprise. Be careful not to suggest to the audience how the story is to end.

4. Use Direct Discourse. - Use direct rather than indirect

discourse. This brings the characters of the story directly before the audience. Indirect discourse, on the other hand, turns the attention from the story to the story-teller. How much more forcible it is to read the words of the Prodigal: "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants," than "The Prodigal said to himself that he would arise and go to his father and tell his father that he had sinned," etc. In telling your story always give the words of your characters instead of recasting them.

5. Quit when You Are Through. — Finally, the end of the story should follow soon after the climax. Many a good story fails because the story-teller wishes to add some detail that has no vital connection with the story. The account of an exciting adventure at camp may be spoiled by the commonplace ending "We all came home and had our supper." Another inartistic ending is the tagging of a moral to the story. Henry van Dyke, in his introduction to The Story of the Other Wise Man, prays that he may never tag a moral to a tale or tell a story without a meaning. A well-told story will be saturated with meaning without expressing that meaning in the form of a moral tagged on to the end.

Method of Work. Perhaps the best results in story writing come from concentrating on the idea and writing the first draft rapidly, with no thought about anything except getting the story told. Then comes the really difficult part of revision, when the writer must judge the story as he has first written it, and try to sharpen it by keeping in mind the principles brought out in this chapter.

Stories to Tell. Try your hand at writing on one of the subjects suggested on page 309. You may tell a real ex

perience or an imaginary one; but if you choose the latter, remember that you must make it seem true to the reader.

The Most Exciting Ride I Ever Had
The Most Exciting Incident of My Life

How Betty Saved the Day

A Terrifying Incident in Camp
The Sad Ending to a Perfect Day
An Amusing Dog Tale

My Disappointment on Circus Day
When Johnny Comes Sailing Home
Judith Startles the Eighth Grade
The Mummy with the Green Mask
The Enchanted Necklace

The Mysterious Rider

The Story of a Race Horse, Man-of-War
Out of Gas

Who Stole the Breakfast?

The Memoirs of a Well-Loved Monkey
The Usual Three Matches

Never use taken or done without an auxiliary before it. Be careful to use did, went, and took without auxiliaries.

EXERCISES

A. Answer the following questions by giving complete sentences in which the correct form of the verb take, go, or do is used. Read both questions and answers aloud:

B. Fill the blanks in the following sentences with the correct form of the verb take, go, or do. Read the complete sentences aloud:

XIII. ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

Function. An adjective always limits or modifies the meaning of a noun or a pronoun; that is to say, an adjective tells something about a noun or a pronoun that takes it out

DOGS

SETTER
SMALL

THESE

of a large class and places it in a smaller class. Dogs, for example, stands for a large class of animals; setter limits the class to a smaller group; small limits setter dogs to a yet smaller number; these further restricts the idea to particular dogs. We may illustrate the effect of adjectives on nouns by the use of circles, as at the left.

Descriptive Adjectives. Certain adjectives describe nouns or tell some of their characteristics. These adjectives are called descriptive adjectives. Red, large, important, beautiful, unpleasant, distant, fragrant, etc. are descriptive adjectives.

Limiting Adjectives. - Other adjectives do not describe nouns, but they limit or point them out. Such adjectives as this, that, these, those, five, fifth, every, each, etc. are called limiting adjectives.

Distinction between Limiting Adjectives and Pronouns.— It is important to note that pronouns must not be used instead of limiting adjectives. We must say those books, not "them books," for example.