Chapter XIX: Conclusion: While narration, description, exposition and argument are

the four forms of prose composition, we do not find frequently that selections are exclusively one or another. Nearly every story contains description, and exposition is not infrequent; expositions often contain description and narration, and arguments are often based upon narration and exposition. Excellent language lessons may be given by examining masterpieces to see what forms of composition they represent or which form predominates.

Thus, in _An Exciting Canoe Race_ (Volume VII, page 79), an extract from Cooper's _The Last of the Mohicans_, may be found several forms of composition:

1. The story as a whole is narration.

2. On page 81 is this passage in exposition: "That's a trail that nothing but a nose can follow; grass is a treacherous carpet for a flying party to tread on, but wood and stone take no print from a moccasin. Had you worn your armed boots, there might indeed have been something to fear; but with the deerskin suitably prepared, a man may trust himself, generally, on rocks with safety. Shove in the canoe higher to the land, Uncas; this sand will take a stamp as easily as the butter of the Jarmans on the Mohawk. Softly, lad, softly; it must not touch the beach, or the knaves will know by what road we have left the place."

3. On page 86 is this descriptive passage: "The well-known crack of a rifle, whose ball came skipping along the placid surface of the strait, and a shrill yell from the island interrupted his speech and announced that their passage was discovered. In another instant several savages were seen rushing into the canoes, which were soon dancing over the water in pursuit. These fearful precursors of a coming struggle produced no change in the countenances and movements of his three guides, so far as Duncan could discover, except that the strokes of their paddles were longer and more in unison, and caused the little bark to spring forward like a creature possessing life and volition."

It will be observed that the paragraph just quoted is not purely descriptive, but that it contains something of narration as well. A single sentence of pure description is the following, to be found on page 88: "So rapid was the progress of the light vessels that the lake curled in their front in miniature waves and their motion became undulating by its own velocity."

The following, from page 90, is a brief argument in conversational form, the elementary form of debate:

"Get you then into the bottom of the canoe, you and the colonel; it will be so much taken from the size of the mark."

"It would be but an ill example for the highest in rank to dodge, while the warriors were under fire!"

"Lord! Lord! that is now a white man's courage! And, like too many of his notions, not to be maintained by reason. Do you think the Sagamore or Uncas, or even I, who am a man without a cross, would deliberate about finding a cover in a scrimmage when an open body would do no good? For what have the Frenchers reared up their Quebec, if fighting is always to be done in the clearings?"

"All that you say is very true, my friend; still, our custom must prevent us from doing as you wish."

Good selections to use for the purposes described and good subjects for compositions are the following from _Journeys Through Bookland_:

For Narration:

1. Stories from _The Swiss Family Robinson_, Volume III, page 99.
2. _The Story of Siegfried_, III, 410.
3. _The Death of Hector_, IV, 364.
4. _Tom Brown at Rugby_, V, 469.
5. _The Recovery of the Hispaniola_, VII, 352.
6. _The Adventure of the Windmills_, VII, 438.
7. _The Adventure of the Wooden Horse_, VII, 467.
8. _The Battle of Ivry_, VIII, 76.

For Description:

1. _How the Old Woman Looked._ See _The Old Woman Who Lived in a
Shoe_, Volume I, page 35.
2. _The House in the Tree._ See _Swiss Family Robinson_, III, 141.
3. _A Forest Scene._ See _Pictures of Memory_, IV, 128.
4. _Sheridan's Horse._ See _Sheridan's Ride_, IV, 223.
5. _Christmas._ See _The Fir Tree_, II, 68, and _Christmas in Old
Time_, VI, 356.
6. _A Scene of My Childhood._ See _The Old Oaken Bucket_, VII, 11.
7. _My Old Kentucky Home._ See poem of the same name, VII, 179.

For Exposition:

1. _The Character of the Boy, Tom._ See _Tom, the Water Baby_, Volume
II, page 215.
2. _What Kind of a Man was Viking?_ See _The Skeleton in Armor_, V,
327.
3. _Exaggeration and Falsehood._ See _Baron Munchausen_, V, 403.
4. _On the construction, meaning, and sentiment in "Home, Sweet
Home."_ See VI, 221.
5. _The Strength of the Gorilla Compared with that of the Elephant._
See _A Gorilla Hunt_, VII, 247, and _Elephant Hunting_, VI, 385.
6. _The Wit of the Visitor._ See _Limestone Broth_, VI, 467.
7. _A Character Sketch of Alice and John._ See _Dream Children_. VIII,
335.

For Argument:

1. _Was the Second Traveler in the Right?_ See _The Two Travelers_,
Volume I, page 109.
2. _Were the Three Men Perfectly Healthy?_ See _We Plan a River Trip_,
V, 443.
3. _Was the Punishment of the Ancient Mariner Just?_ See _The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner_, VII, 29.
4. _Was it Sensible for Casabianca to Remain on the Burning Ship?_ See
_Casabianca_, VIII, 313.
5. _Should Warren Hastings Have Been Convicted?_ See _The Impeachment
of Warren Hastings_, IX, 32.