We write many themes and letters in which we must make several paragraphs. In the first of the following selections the opening paragraph describes a forest, which was reached after an hour's climbing, and the second a pond so far beyond that it was not discovered till "about noon." These two topics are separated both by space and by time. In the second selection, notice how well connected the paragraphs are.

In The Mountains

Our journey commenced in a steep and rugged ascent, which brought us, after an hour's heavy climbing, to an elevated region of pine forest, years before ravished by lumbermen, and presenting all manner of obstacles to our awkward and encumbered pedestrian-ism. The woods were largely pine, though yellow birch, beech, and maple were common. The satisfaction of having a gun, should any game show itself, was the chief compensation to those of us who were thus burdened. A partridge would occasionally whir up before us, or a red squirrel snicker and hasten to his den; else, the woods appeared quite tenantless. The most noted object was a mammoth pine, apparently the last of a great race, which presided over a cluster of yellow birches, on the side of the mountain.

About noon we came out upon a long, shallow sheet of water, which the guide called Bloody-Moose Pond, from the tradition that a moose had been slaughtered there many years before. Looking out over the silent and lonely scene, his eye was the first to detect an object apparently feeding upon lily pads, which our willing fancies readily shaped into a deer. As we were eagerly waiting some movement to confirm this impression, it lifted up its head, and lo! a great blue heron. Seeing us approach, it spread its long wings and flew solemnly across to a dead tree on the other side of the lake, enhancing, rather than relieving, the loneliness and desolation that brooded over the scene. - John Burroughs, "Adirondac," in "Wake Robin."

A Dutch Village

Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. . . . When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.

At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the light smoke curling up from a village, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees. ... It is a little village, of great antiquity, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists in the early times of the province, . . . and there were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow bricks brought from Holland, having latticed windows and gable fronts, surmounted by weathercocks.

In that same village, and in one of these very houses . . . there lived, many years since, ... a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. - Irving, "The Sketch-Book."

Exercises

66. Examine the first five pages of this book, or of the book you are reading in literature, to see whether you would combine or divide some of the paragraphs.

67. From the book you are reading in literature, make a list of five subjects suitable for independent paragraphs.

68. Make a list of three subjects suitable for themes of two or three paragraphs.

69. Write a theme on one of the subjects chosen in Exercise 67.

70. Write a theme on one of the subjects chosen in Exercise 68.

71. (1) Write a series of paragraphs on The School Day, giving a paragraph to each period. (2) Then condense the composition into one paragraph. (3) Make a plan of the paragraph. (See sect. 26).

72. Condense into one short paragraph the selection on page 47. Make a brief plan of the original selection, and see if this will suit your paragraph.

73. Explain in a paragraph the meaning of x as used in algebra. Criticize in class the unity of your paragraph. (See Ex. 58).