are many such cases in composition, especially in conversation.

PUPILS' COMPOSITIONS

202. There follow four compositions written by pupils in an elementary school. The last one was written from memory after its author had heard the original form of the story read. Study the four themes as you did the story in section 200, criticizing and correcting every detail. It would be a good exercise to rewrite one of them.

"Wednesday, April 18, 1906, was the day of the great San Francisco fire and earthquake. We received a shock at five minutes past five then the big quake came. Soon after the big fire broke out and we were in more danger than ever.

"For days and days the fire raged. All the big stores burning up one by one. At night we would go up to the top of a hill and look down at the burning city.

"After while when the fire died down the streets were very dark. When the men began to build again, little fires would break out in different places."

"Last summer when I was in Seattle we took an excursion to the navy yard. When we were waiting on the docks for the boat to come up it was very crowded. Every one thought it was going to stop on the north side of the dock, so they all went on that side.

"Pretty soon the boat pulled in on the south side and there was a lot of pushing and crowding to get over to the other side. When they put the gang plank out the men would try to get on first and pushed the women and children away. One man tried to get on another way and as he was doing it he got his hat knocked off into the

water. At the last when the plank was taken off a boy was on the boat and his mother was on shore.

"We were very glad when we got back to Seattle."

"When I lived in California I used to own a dog whom I considered to be a model of intelligent dogs.

"He was an Irish Water Spaniel with a great deal of He could climb a tree or jump the highest

common sense.

fence with ease. One day I started off in a pony cart to ride to a town about two miles away and I took my dog 'Rex' as that was his name. `When we arrived there I visited some friends for a while and after receiving a package from them, for my mother, I started back. I had gone about half a mile when I noticed the door of the cart open and the package gone.

"It was easy enough to surmise how the package was lost and with a look of great dismay on my face I turned to my dog who I supposed was watching it, and there he lay fast asleep. Shaking him vigorously I awoke him and pointed to the place where the parcel had been. He uttered a short bark and started back along the road.

"About a half hour later he reappeared dusty and panting but with the parcel in his mouth."

"A long time ago when none of us were living, the rabbits had short ears.

"Well, one day a little rabbit went out into the field next to his home to get his breakfast. This was an ancestor of some rabbit that lives now. Probably if you went out into the woods you would find his descendant.

'Anyway, as I said, he was going to get his breakfast in a field near his house. He saw a great many carrots in that field, and because all rabbits just love carrots he ate and ate and ate till he was so full he could not move.

When his mammy called him he was nowhere to be seen. Then she went out into the field to look for him. She found him lying on the grass, crying with pain. He could not walk home with her because his tummy hurt so awful, so his mother carried him home by the ears, for fear of hurting him if she carried him home by any thing else. His ears then stretched to about three times their size of course, and the little thing screamed. Now no rabbit can be safely carried home by anything but its ears."

SOME ADVERTISEMENTS

203. You have already learned that when you write business letters it is very necessary to stop to inquire of yourselves what the persons to whom you write the letters would need to know. This is an exceedingly important matter, as your getting what you want may depend largely, or perhaps altogether, upon what you write and how you write it. For example, suppose you want to apply for positions in answer to advertisements like the following:

BOY WANTED. We have an unusually good opening in our correspondence department for a bright young fellow who is looking for a permanent position where there is no limit to the opportunities for advancement. -DOLE & MCINTYRE, 32 S. Franklin St.

BOY WANTED. We need several boys, 16 to 19 years of age, as order fillers, stock boys, and wrappers. Real opportunities for live boys.-WILLIAMSON GRUBBS, 124 N. State St.

&

OFFICE BOYS. Bright, clean boys for office work. Good future for those energetic enough to merit advancement. Must be graduates of public schools. Bring

school certificates.-J. B. ALLISON & CO., 23 Dearborn St. ADDRESSERS WANTED. Girls for addressing circulars and catalogues. Must write a plain hand.-DOLE & MCINTYRE, 32 S. Franklin St.

WANTED, Billing Clerks. Young women who can figure rapidly and accurately; no previous experience necessary; salary at first, $8 per week.-WILLIAMSON & GRUBBS, 124 N. State St.

GIRLS. We need bright, ambitious young ladies between 16 and 17 years old, with grammar school education.-J. B. ALLISON & Co., 23 Dearborn St.

One of these advertisements plainly requires candidates to call at the office of the advertiser, and it is very likely that personal calls would be better than letters in the other cases. In the personal interview, however, the prospective employer finds out, by questioning, all that the candidate would be likely to say in a letter, and even more, for he then has the opportunity to look the young person in the eye and see what manner of person he is. In many cases the advertiser does not have his name and address printed at the bottom of the advertisement, but has merely some such sign as E 186, followed by the name of the newspaper in which the advertisement appears. Under these circumstances the boy or the girl is compelled to write to the advertiser, knowing that if he makes a good impression he will be asked to call and present his case in person. Much, thereforé, depends upon the letter; what you say is important, and how you say it is important.

If you will read over the advertisements carefully, you will find out some of the things employers require in their employees. Make a list of these requirements.

In addition to these things, employers often wish to know whether their prospective employees live with their parents or elsewhere, whether they have had any experience in business, and whether they are unusually strong in some particular branch of school work.

Finally, the business man wants a letter written by the applicant himself, and he wants it correctly written.

ANSWERING AN ADVERTISEMENT

204. Writing letters in answer to such advertisements as appear in the preceding section is an exercise that may be kept up for several days in succession.

Whether you live in a city or in the country, you will not find it difficult to obtain a copy of a city newspaper. Search the "Help Wanted" columns for advertisements from people who want to employ boys and girls, assume that you are graduates of grammar schools, and write answers as if you yourselves were applying for the positions.

EXERCISE IN CRITICISM

205. After writing the letters each day, or on bringing them to class if they have been written at home, read some of them before the room so that they may be criticized. The main question is, of course,