COMPOSITIONS Oral. Tell the plot (story) of the poem in such a way as to make it interesting and clear to one who has never read the poem. Try to avoid such expressions as "and-ah, why-ah," etc., and unpleasant repetition of "then, so," etc. Be careful to have the thought of each sentence clearly in mind before you begin to express your thought in words. Written. "Sella and the Sea Nymphs." In your introduction, state briefly who Sella was and how she found the slippers; then give the details that belong to your subject. "Sella's Conversion." In your first paragraph tell who Sella was and speak of her love for the sea nymphs. Your discussion should tell in an interesting way the incidents that cause a change of heart in Sella. In conclusion, say which you think was the better life and close with an appropriate quotation from the poem. "Service a Balm for Sorrow." How sorrow affects different people - Sella's deep grief — what she did to heal her wounded spirit— the results. "A Rustic Wedding." Write in smooth prose the substance of the author's account of the wedding of Sella's sister. Let the following headings indicate paragraphs: brief description of Sella's sister and a sentence in regard to her engagement - the gathering of the people — adorning the bride — the ceremony - the festivities. "The Home by the River." Give as clear a description as you can of Sella's home- those who lived there their joys-their sorrows the importance of home. 66 Treachery for Love's Sake." How the brothers found where Sella hid the slippers-how they threw them away-how she detected their guilt their excuse was their action right or wrong? "Grandfather's Story about the Water Wheel." Picture the old man and some children who beg for a story — he tells them that long ago, a fairy lady taught people how to make water exert its power for their advantage. [Let all the conversation be direct speech.] In dialogue, begin a new paragraph for each separate speech of each speaker. "How to be Beautiful in Old Age." Describe Sella as a young maiden what she did during her life and how she changed in appearance - why she was still beautiful in her declining years. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE A DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF GRESS ASSEMBLED AMERICA IN GENERAL CON WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God 5 entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their 10 Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of gov- 15 ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happi- 20 ness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolish- 25 ing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to pro- 30 vide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of 35 repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his assent to laws the most whole- 40 some and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden the governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to 45 attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable 50 to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly 55 for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative 60 powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 65 states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice by 70 refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. 75 80 He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended 85 legislation for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; for protecting them by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states; for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; for imposing taxes 90 on us without our consent; for depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses; for abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary gov- 95 ernment, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies; for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our govern-100 ments; for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 105 He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of 110 cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to 115 become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known 120 rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. |