novel should be read as an amusement and a relaxation, and this implies that it should only alternate with more solid reading. And to get out of the novel the best lessons it can teach, the reader should in some way deliver himself from the excitement of the story. This hurries him over the pages and on with a rush to the crisis, and seals his eyes to that for which almost alone the book should be read. We almost dare advise the reader that he should, at the start, look on to the end to see how the hero and the heroine prosper, how things in general issue, and then return to the beginning and carefully gather the harvest worth reaping from the pages. He should remember that to become intensely alive to fancied suffering, be kindled to keen sympathy with fictitious personages, without opportunity to translate these feelings into acts, do what he is moved to do, is unhealthful, and tends to deaden him to the woes and sufferings of the real world.

We quote from Prof. Genung a few lines pointing out the essential differences between the two great divisions of Fiction the Novel and the Romance.

"The novel holds itself more strictly inside the limitations of fiction. Confining itself to the characters and manners of ordinary life, it aims merely 'to hold the mirror up to nature,' so that each reader may see reflected therein something parallel to his own experience. It is often concerned with finer shadings and traits of character than the romance exhibits; and these it finds in such histories as are passing every day all around us.

"Romance obeys the tendency to emphasize the liberties of fiction. It deals with scenes and events outside the sphere of commonplace life, with adventure, mystery, striking contrasts, surprising incident; or if with common scenes, it seeks to invest them with a hue and picturesqueness not of our everyday existence. It is generally concerned not so much with minute shades of character and motive as with the more violent and elementary passions, love, revenge, jealousy, hatred, self-sacrificing courage. It is the result of an

endeavor to create an imagined world more interesting and more striking than our common round of experience.'

Allegories are a species of fiction in which virtues, vices, and difficulties are personified, and great moral duties inculcated. They are less frequently written now than formerly. There are a few in classic English literature.

Fables are short stories in which, by the imagined dealings of men with animals or mere things, or by the supposed doings of these alone, useful lessons are taught.

Parables are short accounts of something real or supposed, used by our Lord in illustration or in enforcement of his teaching.

LESSON 78.

WRITTEN DISCOURSE. — PROSE, KINDS OF.

V. Letters. A letter is a written communication from one person to another. Usually letters are upon matters purely personal and private letters of friendship or letters of business; sometimes they are upon topics of general concern and are thought worthy of publication. Some of these, because of the standing of the writer and the desire to learn all that can be known of him, from the importance of the subject discussed, or from the exquisite style in which his thought is couched, have been gathered into volumes, and form a valuable part of literature.

Not every pupil can reasonably aspire to write histories. or works of fiction, but every one writes letters. This fact coupled with another that a letter has several parts, each of which has a definite and a proper form—justifies us in devoting a few pages to the subject of Letter-Writing.

In writing a letter there are seven things to consider — the Heading, the Address, the Salutation, the Body, the Complimentary Close, the Signature, and the Superscription.

1. The Heading. - Parts. - The Heading consists of the name of the place at which the letter is written, and the date. If you write from a city, give the door-number, the name of the street, the name of the city, and the name of the state. If you are at a hotel or a school or any other well-known institution, its name may take the place of the door-number and the name of the street, as may also the number of your post-office box. If you write from a village or other country place, give your post-office address, the name of the county, and that of the state. This part of the Heading should show your correspondent where to send his reply. If you wish the reply sent elsewhere, give full directions after the signature.

The date consists of the name of the month, of the day of the month, and of the year.

How Written. -Begin the Heading an inch or more from the top of the page. If the letter occupies but a few lines of a single page, you may begin the Heading lower down. Begin the first line of the Heading a little to the left of the middle of the page. If it occupies more than one line, the second line should begin farther to the right than the first, and the third farther to the right than the second. The name of the place and the date are sometimes put below the signature, at the left of the page.

The door-number, the day of the month, and the year are written in figures; the rest, in words. Each important word begins with a capital letter, each item is set off by the comma, and the whole closes with a period.

Direction. - Study what has been said, and write the following headings according to these models:

1. Bath, Maine, Oct. 5, 1880. 2. 527 Michigan Ave.,

Chicago, Ill.,

May 3, 1880.

3. Plattsburgh, N.Y.,

Sept. 11, 1814.

4. Sharon, Litchfield Co., Conn., November 8, 1880.

I. n y albany executive chamber jan 1860 5. 2. 4 long island jamaica 1879 july. 3. house apr pierrepont 1880 brooklyn 1 new york. 4. newfoundland n y buffalo ave 4 february 569 1880. 5. nov co washington mo 27 ripley 1875. 6. 1876 hull oct 8 mass. 7. st new york city 643 clinton 5 dec 1796. 8. vermont d c ave washington 1880 16 march 378.

2. The Address. — Parts. The Address consists of the name, the title, and the place of business or residence of the one to whom the letter is written. Titles of respect and courtesy should appear in the Address. Prefix Mr. to a man's name; Messrs. to the names of several gentlemen; Master to the name of a lad; Miss to the name of a young lady; Mrs. to the name of a married lady; Misses to the names of several young ladies; and Mesdames to the names of several married or elderly ladies. Prefix Dr. to the name of a physician, or write M.D. after his name. Prefix Rev. (or The Rev.) to the name of a clergyman, or The Rev. Mr. you do not know his Christian name; The Rev. Dr. if he is a Doctor of Divinity, or write The Rev. before the name and D.D. after it. Prefix His Excellency1 to the name of a Governor or of an Ambassador; Hon. (or The Hon.) to the name of a Cabinet Officer, a Member of Congress, a State Senator, a Law Judge, or a Mayor. Esq. is added to the name of a lawyer, and sometimes to the names of other prominent persons. If two literary or professional titles are added to a name, let them stand in the order in which they were conferred· - this is the order of a few

if

1 His Excellency was formerly used in addressing the President; but the preferred form is, To the President, Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C.; the Salutation is simply Mr. President.

common ones: A.M., Ph.D., D.D., LL.D. Guard against an excessive use of titles - the higher implies the lower. Do not use two titles of the same meaning. Avoid such combinations as the following: Mr. Dr. Brown; Dr. Brown, M.D.; Mr. Brown, M.D.; Mr. Brown, A.M.; Dr. Brown, Ph.D.; Mr. Brown, Esq. Such as the following, however, are allowed: Mrs. Dr. Brown; Mrs. General Scott.

How Written. - In a business letter the Address should follow the Heading, beginning on the next line, and standing on the left side of the page. In a familiar letter the Address is generally placed at the end, on the left side of the page, beginning on the next line below the signature. There should always be a narrow margin on the left-hand side of the page, and the Address should always begin on the marginal line. If the Address occupies more than one line, the initial words of these lines should slope to the right, as in the Heading.

Every important word in the Address should begin with a capital letter; all the items of it should be set off by the comma; and, as it is an abbreviated sentence, it should close with a period.

3. The Salutation. Forms. Salutations vary with the station of the one addressed, or the writer's degree of intimacy with him; as Sir, Reverend Sir, Rev. and dear Sir, General, Madam, Miss Brown, Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear Miss Brown, Dear Friend, Friend Brown, Friend James, Dear Cousin, My dear Sir, My dear Madam, My dear Miss Brown, My dear Friend, My dear Jones, My dear Wife, My dear Boy, Dearest Ellen, etc.

1 Miss is not used alone as a salutation. In addressing a young unmarried lady, the near repetition of Miss is generally avoided by omitting the Salutation and using the Address alone, or by placing the Address at the end of the letter. We can see no good reason for restricting Madam or Dear Madam to married and elderly ladies.