Chapter C: D. B

CHARLIE'S COMPOSITION.

CHARLIE was ten years old, and his teacher thought he should begin to write compositions. So she gave him a list of words, and told him to write a letter or story, and put them all in.

The words were these: Begun, Write, Boy, Hook, Two, Black, Said, Basket, Knife, Chair, Eyes, Ground.

Charlie went home; and, before he went out to play in the afternoon, his mother said, "You had better work a while on your composition."

"Oh, I never can do it!" he said. "Mother, you try too, and see if you can write one." So she took his list and wrote this true story,--

"A little _boy_ with roguish _black eyes_ was
sitting on the floor, playing with some spools
that he had taken from his mother's work-_basket_,
which she had left in a _chair_. All at once he
saw a cow coming up the yard. He dropped every
thing, and ran to drive her out. She threw up her
head, and looked so fierce, that he was afraid she
would _hook_ him, and back he ran to the house.

"Then he spied a fruit-_knife_ on the _ground_,
where he had left it when he was eating an apple
in the morning. He picked it up, and carried it to
his mother, who had just _begun_ to _write_, and
she _said_, that, if he would keep still about
_two_ minutes, she would attend to him."

"There," said mamma, "I have put in all the words: now you try, Charlie."

Charlie then wrote:--

"I saw _two hooks_ and _eyes_ just as I had begun
to _write_. Johnny brought mother's _knife_, which
he found lying on the _ground_. He joggled
mother's _chair_, and she _said_, 'There's a
_black_ mark on my paper, and oh, dear! the _boy_
has tipped over my _basket_.' That's all."

His mother read what Charlie had written, and said, "Pretty good for the first time;" and off he went to play.