Asterisks (* * *) or leaders (. . .) indicate omissions.

1. She. . began a song. . . . The hand failed on the strings, the tune halted, checked, and at a low note turned off to the poor little nursery rhyme about the wicked crow -

"And the wild plums grow in the jungle, only a penny a pound, . Only a penny a pound, baba - only . . ."

2. Then came the tears ... till she slept.

Note. Leaders are used for omissions in the middle or at the end of a paragraph. Asterisks are convenient for separating complete paragraphs. See page 47.

Exercises

122. Write sentences illustrating two uses of each of the punctuation marks.

128. Bring to the classroom several of your old themes. Exchange papers, and examine to see if punctuation marks have been inserted correctly.

124. Take from your own writing or from your reading as many illustrations of the uses of the comma as you can find before the next recitation.

126. Tell briefly but clearly what you need to keep in mind about each of the marks of punctuation. What are the faults to which your examiner has called particular attention?

126. Copy and punctuate the following passages:

1. Cultivate decision of character in everything the ability to say yes or to say no and to do it on the spot the man who takes too much time in deciding things fearing that he may decide wrong will get ahead slowly if at all.

2. What you been shootin Corlick asked his wife as she placed the roast pork and potatoes on the table.

Oh nothin of any account he replied with affected indifference only Laban Wing's bull.

Why Corlick Evans she cried.

3. So if a man's wit be wandering let him study the mathematics for in demonstrations if his wit be called away never so little he must begin again.

4. I asked him what he thought would become of them there and if they had formed no design of making any escape he said they had many consultations about it but that having neither vessel nor tools to build one nor provisions of any kind their councils always ended in tears and despair I asked him how he thought they would receive a proposal from me which might tend towards an escape and whether if they were all here it might not be done.

5. [Six paragraphs.] In despair I went to a great merchant on the island and asked him to employ me my dear young friend said he I understand that you have some singular secret some charm or spell or amulet or something I don't know what of which people are afraid now you know my dear said the merchant swelling up and apparently prouder of his great stomach than of his large fortune I am not of that kind I am not easily frightened you may spare yourself the pain of trying to impose upon me people who propose to come to time before I arrive are accustomed to arise very early in the morning said he thrusting his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat and spreading the fingers like two fans upon his bosom I think I have heard something of your secret you have a pair of spectacles I believe that you value very much because your grandmother brought them as a marriage portion to your grandfather now if you think fit to sell me those spectacles I will pay you the largest market price for them what do you say I told him I had not the slightest idea of selling my spectacles my young friend means to eat them I suppose said he with a contemptuous smile I made no reply but was turning to leave the office when the merchant called after me my young friend poor people should never suffer themselves to get into pets anger is an expensive luxury in which only men of a certain income can indulge a pair of spectacles and a hot temper are not the most promising capital for success in fife Master Tit-bottom.

6. Two minutes had scarcely elapsed when the whole forest before me was in fearful motion here and there where one tree pressed against another a creaking noise was produced similar to that occasioned by the violent gusts that sometimes sweep over the country turning instinctively toward the direction from which the wind blew I saw to my great astonishment that the noblest trees of the forest bent their lofty heads for a while and unable to stand against the blast were falling to pieces first the branches were broken off with a crackling noise then went the upper part of the massy trunks and in many places whole trees of gigantic size were falling entire to the ground so rapid was the progress of the storm that before I could think of taking measures to insure my safety the hurricane was passing opposite the place where I stood never can I forget the scene which at that moment presented itself the tops of the trees were seen moving in the strangest manner in the central current of the tempest which carried along with it a mingled mass of twigs and foliage that completely obscured the view some of the largest trees were seen bending and writhing under the gale others suddenly snapped across and many after a momentary resistance fell uprooted to the earth the mass of branches twigs foliage and dust that moved through the air was whirled onward like a cloud of feathers and on passing disclosed a wide space filled with fallen trees naked stumps and heaps of shapeless ruins which marked the path of the tempest this space was about a fourth of a mile in breadth and to my imagination resembled the dried-up bed of the Mississippi the horrible noise resembled that of the great cataracts of Niagara and as it howled along in the track of the desolating tempest produced a feeling in my mind that it is impossible to describe.

7. While the war continued without any decisive success on either side a calamity happened in London which threw the people into great consternation fire breaking out in a baker's house near the bridge spread itself on all sides with such rapidity that no efforts could extinguish it till it laid in ashes a considerable part of the city the inhabitants without being able to provide effectually for their relief were reduced to be spectators of their own ruin and were pursued from street to street by the flames which unexpectedly gathered round them three days and nights did the fire advance and it was only by blowing up houses that it was at last extinguished the king and the duke used their utmost endeavors to stop the progress of the flames but all their industry was unsuccessful about four hundred streets and thirteen thousand houses were reduced to ashes the causes of the calamity were evident the narrow streets of London the houses built entirely of wood the dry season and a violent east wind which blew these were so many concurring circumstances which rendered it easy to assign the reason of the destruction that ensued but the people were not satisfied with this obvious account.

127. Be prepared to write from dictation the following conversation, inserting the necessary quotation marks. Make a new paragraph each time the speaker changes :

Tell me do you think there is such a thing as a horse's function I do Would you then describe the function of a horse or of anything else whatever as that work for the accomplishment of which it is either the sole or the best instrument I do not understand Look at it this way Can you see with anything besides eyes Certainly not Can you hear with anything besides ears No Then should we not justly say that seeing and hearing are the functions of these organs Yes certainly Again you might cut off a vine shoot with a carving knife or chisel or many other tools Undoubtedly But with no tool I imagine so well as with the pruning knife made for the purpose True Then shall we not define pruning to be the function of the pruning knife By all means Now then I think you will better understand what I wished to learn from you just now when I asked whether the function of a thing is not that work for the accomplishment of which it is either the sole or the best instrument I do understand and I believe that this is in every case the function of a thing.

128. Write a letter to your teacher, explaining why you stood well in a certain study during the last term.

129. Write an entertaining letter of considerable length to a real, or imaginary, sick friend, with the purpose of amusing and cheering the invalid.