TRY LINCOLN'S WAY
Do you know Abraham Lincoln's plan of learning English? It was a very simple and direct way of making the Bible English his own. The Bible, we are told, was one of the four or five books which Lincoln read and loved as a boy. He knew it well and to his study of it he owed the simple, strong, and beautiful English which gave his speeches--his address at Gettysburg, the Second Inaugural address, and many others--their high place among the most perfect and enduring of all writings.
This was his plan: He would read a story, or a part of one, very slowly and thoughtfully, oftentimes aloud. When every detail of it was clear in his mind, he would close the book, take pencil and paper and write the story for himself, using as many of the Bible words as he could remember, and trying always to tell the story as well and as completely, and yet in as few words as the Bible.
He tells us his stories were never quite so clear, so brief, and yet so perfect, as those of his model. But he did learn to command its simplicity, its strength, its brevity, and its imagery.
Try Lincoln's way, using the following selections:--
| A Cowardly Deed. | [91 H.T.], [92 H.T.], [95 H.T.], [96 H.T.] |
| An Old Fable. | [333 H.T.], [334 H.T.] |
| The Story of the Shepherd Boy Who Became King. | [382 H.T.], [385 H.T.], [386 H.T.] |
| The Passing of David. | [451 H.T.] |
| The Wise Men. | [41 L.J.], [42 L.J.] |
| The First Miracle. | [78 L.J.] |
| The Good Samaritan. | [88 L.J.], [91 L.J.] |
| The Man Let Down through the Roof. | [127 L.J.], [128 L.J.] |
| The Miracle at Nain. | [130 L.J.] |
| The Story of the Sower. | [133 L.J.] |
| Learning to Serve. | [143 L.J.] |
| The Story of the Lost Sheep. | [202 L.J.] |
| The Story of the Prodigal Son. | [203 L.J.], [204 L.J.] |