A sure way of developing a taste for good books is through reading aloud. If you can have the pleasure of listening for half an hour a day to some of the best sentences of good writers, you will soon be able to criticize your own sentences as you hear them read. Your ear will rapidly grow sensitive to tiresome repetitions, to unnecessary words, and to awkward constructions. But oral reading, to be effective, must be well done. To accomplish its purpose your reading should be smooth, sympathetic, and musical.

Exercises

1. Before coming to class, read aloud the following composition. Send the eye ahead of the voice. If you stumble over a word, or pause in the wrong place, read the sentence till you can give it smoothly.

My Father's Friend

While my father was an officer of the English army in South Africa, we occupied a large cabin, which, unlike the other bungalows, had two stories. One evening when my father and sister and I were sitting together, I noticed that father, who was sitting facing the window, turned very pate. Being a soldier's daughter and fearing to alarm my invalid sister, I sat still, waiting for my father's orders. Soon he said in a steady voice: "Edith and Florence, a friend of mine is coming here to see me this evening, and I wish to be alone with him. Therefore I wish you to go up to your own room." We obeyed immediately; and going to our room, closed the door.

Soon I heard a sound like that of a door bursting in, and then a scramble of feet. They were hurrying up the narrow stairs. Fearing that there was some danger near, I seized the pistol which my father always obliged me to keep loaded in my room. Then I heard my father cry out, "For mercy's sake, child, open the door." I did so; and to my horror I saw, not a friend of his, but the worst enemy of the soldier in Africa, the gorilla. He was overtaking my father; and recovering my senses just in time, I raised the pistol and fired. For once I had aimed well, and the animal fell backward with an angry scream. Father quickly took the still smoking pistol from my hand, and fired another shot, which dispatched the brute.

Father then told us that when he saw the dreaded animal at the window, he had sent us upstairs; and he hoped to be able to shut and bar the door - which always stood open - before the creature noticed it. The gorilla had, however, been too quick for him; and this was the cause of the hurried flight up the stairs.

2. Read the selection entitled "Thackeray and the Oyster" (P.273) to some member of your family or to some friend, and notice the effect of your reading on the listener. Give the class an oral account of your experiment.

3. Be prepared to read to the class two of the following selections:

1. "Baby's First Shoes," page 34.

2. Selection from "The Jungle Book," page 222.

3. "Nehushta," page 296.

4. "A Football Player," page 15.

5. Selection from "Enoch Arden," page 294.

6. "Incident of the French Camp," page 276.