Turn it over in your mind in your leisure moments, and, as thoughts flash upon you, jot them down in your blank-book. Pay little regard to their order on the page or to their relative importance; but if any seem broad enough for the main points, or heads, indicate this. Talk with no one on the subject, and read nothing on it, till you have thought yourself empty; and even then you should note down what the conversation or reading suggests, rather than what you have heard or read.

III. Construct a Framework.-Before writing hunt through your material for the main points, or heads. See to what general truths or thoughts these jottings and those jottings point. Perhaps this or that thought, as it stands, includes enough to serve as a head. Be sure, at any rate, that by brooding over your material, and by further thinking upon the subject, you get at all the general thoughts into which, as it seems to you, the subject should be analyzed. Study these points carefully. See that no two overlap each other, that no one appears twice, that no one has been raised to the dignity of a head that should stand under come head, and that no one is irrelevant. Study now to find the natural order in which these points should stand. Let no point, to the clear understanding of which some other point is necessary, precede that other. If developing all the points would make your Theme too long, study to see what points you can throw out with least break or incompleteness.

IV. Write. Give your whole attention to your work as you write, and other thoughts will occur to you, and better ways of putting the thoughts already noted down. In expanding the main points into paragraphs, be sure that everything falls under its appropriate head. Cast out irrelevant matter. Do not strain after effect, or strive to seem wiser than you are. Use familiar words, and place these, your phrases, and your clauses, where they will make your thought the clearest. As occasion calls, change from the natural order to the transposed

and let sentences, simple, complex, and compound, long and short, stand shoulder to shoulder in the paragraph. Express yourself easily -only now and then putting your thought forcibly and with feeling. Let a fresh image here and there relieve the uniformity of plain language. One sentence should follow another without abrupt break ; and if continuative of it, adversative to it, or an inference from it, and the hearer needs to be advised of this, let it swing into position on the hinge of a fitting connective. Of course your sentences must pass rigid muster in syntax; and you must look sharply to the spelling, to the use of capital letters, and to punctuation.

V. Attend to the Mechanical Execution.-Keep your pages clean, and let your handwriting be clear. On the left of the page leave a margin of an inch for corrections. Do not write on the fourth page; if you exceed three pages, use another sheet and insert it. When the writing is done, double the lower half of the sheet over the upper, and fold through the middle; then bring the top down to the middle and fold again. Bring the right end toward you, and across the top write your name, the date, and the name of the teacher who is to correst the Theme. This superscription will be at the top of the fourth page, at the right-hand corner, and at right angles to the ruled lines. To the Teacher.-Question the pupils closely upon every point in this Lesson, and Insist that they shall practice what is here laid down.

39. The Early Bird catches the 73. Bores.

41. How Horatius kept the Bridge. 76. Autumn's Colors.

LESSON 166.

LETTER-WRITING.

*Letters need special treatment. In writing a letter there are six things to consider-The Heading, The Introduction, The Body of the Letter, The Conclusion, The Folding, and The Superscription.

THE HEADING.

Parts.-The Heading consists of the name of the Place at which the letter is written, and the Date. If you write from a city like St. Louis, Boston, or New York, give the door-number, the name of the street, and the name of the city; if you write from a small city, add the name of the state. If you are at a Hotel or a School or any other well-known Institution, its name may take the place of the doornumber and the name of the street; as may also the number of your post-office box. If in a small country place, give your post-office address, the name of the county, and that of the state.

The Date consists of the month, the day of the month, and the year. How Written.—Begin the Heading about an inch and a half from the top of the page on the first ruled line of commercial note. If the letter occupies but a few lines of a single page, you may begin the Heading lower down. Begin the first line of the Heading a little to the left of the middle of the page. If it occupies more than one line, the second line should begin farther to the right than the first, and the third farther to the right than the second.

The door-number, the day of month, and the year are written in figures, the rest in words. Each important word begins with a capi

* In preparing these Lessons on Letter-Writing, we have followed the two best au thorities-Townsend and Westlake.

tal letter, each item is set off by the comma, and the whole closes with

a period.

Direction.-Study what has been said, and write the following headings accord ing to these models:

1. Ripton, Addison Co., Vt.,

July 10, 1875.

2. 250 Broadway, N. Y.,

June 6, 1860.

3. Saco, Me., Feb. 25, 1877.
4. Polytechnic Institute,

Brooklyn, N. Y.,
May 3, 1868.

1. ann arbor 5 july 1820 michigan. 2. champlain co clinton n y jan 14 1800. 3. po box 2678 1860 oct 19 chicago. 4. philadelphia 670 1858 chestnut st 16 apr. 5. saint nicholas new york 1 hotel nov 1855.

THE INTRODUCTION.

Parts.-The Introduction consists of the Address-the Name, the Title, and the Place of Business or Residence of the one addressed -and the Salutation, or Complimentary Address. Titles of respect and courtesy should appear in the Address. Prefix Mr. to a man's name, Messrs. to the names of several gentlemen; Master to that of a young lad; Miss to that of a young lady; Mrs. to that of a married lady; Misses to those of several young ladies; and Mesdames to those of several married or elderly ladies. Prefix Dr. to the name of a physician, but never Mr. Dr.; Rev. to the name of a clergyman, or Rev. Mr. if you do not know his christian name; Rev. Dr. if he is a Doctor of Divinity, or write Rev. before the name and D.D. after it. Prefix His Excellency to the name of the President, and to that of a Governor or of an Embassador; Hon. to the name of a Cabinet Officer, a Member of Congress, a State Senator, a Law Judge, or a Mayor. Give the title of her husband to a married lady; as, Mrs. Dr. Smith, Mrs. Secretary Evarts, Mrs. Gen. W. T. Sherman. If two literary or profes. sional titles are added to a name, let them stand in the order in which they were conferred-this is the order of a few common ones: A.M., Ph.D., D.D., LL.D. Guard against an excessive use of titles-the higher implies the lower.