God, he said, had made the woodchuck. He made him to live, to enjoy the air and sunshine, the free fields and woods. The woodchuck had as much right to live as any other thing that breathes. God did not make him or anything in vain. He was not a destructive animal like the wolf or the fox. He ate a few common things, to be sure; but they had plenty of them, and could well spare a part. And he destroyed nothing except the little food needed to sustain his humble life. That little food was as sweet to him, and as necessary to his existence, as was the food on their mother's table to them.
God gave them their food. Would they not spare a little for the dumb creature that really had as much right to his small share of God's bounty as they themselves to theirs? Yea, more; the animal had never broken the laws of his nature or the laws of God, as man often did, but had strictly lived up to the simple instincts that had been given him by the good Creator of all things. Created by God's hands, he had a right from God to his life and his liberty, and they had no right to deprive him of either.
The young orator then alluded to the mute but earnest entreaties of the animal for his life, as sweet, as dear to him, as their own was to them; and to the just penalty they might expect, if, in selfish cruelty, they took the life they could not restore,—the life that God Himself had given.
During this appeal for mercy tears had started to the father's eyes, and were fast running down his sunburnt cheeks. Every feeling of his manly heart was stirred within him,—gratitude for the gift of so eloquent and noble a boy, pity for the helpless and anxious prisoner at the bar.
The strain was more than he could bear. While Daniel was yet speaking, without thinking that he had won his case, his father sprang from his chair, and, in entire forgetfulness of his character as judge, exclaimed to his elder son, "Zeke! Zeke! let that woodchuck go!"
Sometimes you may wish to quote, not a whole sentence, but a word or two. Such a partial quotation should be inclosed in quotation marks, but you should not begin it with a capital or place a comma before it, unless the comma is needed there for some other reason.
She was "born to blush unseen."
We listened with pity to this tale of "man's inhumanity to man."
Exercise 150.—Construct sentences using the following partial quotations:—
"Waste her sweetness on the desert air," "simple and heart-felt lay," of "night's candles," "lowly thatched cottage," "sweet bells out of tune."
Exercise 151.—Rewrite the following so that you will have in each instance a quotation within a quotation. You will be obliged to make introductions using the name of the author.
1. Had it not been the season when "no spirit dares stir abroad," I should have been half tempted to steal from my room at midnight.—Washington Irving.
2. The story-teller paused for a moment and said, "There is no situation in life but has its advantages and pleasures."
—Diedrich Knickerbocker.
3. We are in that part of the year which I like best—the Rainy or Hurricane Season. "When it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is horrid."
—Robert Louis Stevenson.
106. Italics.—The term "italics" refers to a special kind of type used in printing; thus, italics. Ordinary type is referred to as "roman." In writing, a single line drawn underneath a word is understood to be the equivalent of italics. Italics are used for (1) words especially emphasized, for (2) words from a foreign language, and, sometimes, as in this volume, for (3) names of books, newspapers, magazines, and ships. See § 105, ¶ 1.
To his amazement, he saw footprints.
The carriage rolled away from the porte-cochère.
His History of English Literature.
The wreck of the Polar Star.
107. The Hyphen.—The hyphen is used as follows:—