59. Plain Reporting of Facts.—A history gives an account of things that happened some time ago. A newspaper gives an account of things that happened yesterday. The two are different in degree, but not in essential qualities. To give an account of an incident that lasted half an hour and make it clear, connected, and orderly, requires the same principles as to write a report of events that lasted through several years. You must arrange your narrative in the true order, in a story of how a barn was burned, just as in a story of how a town was settled. In the first case, however, this is not quite so easy to do, since many of the events occur almost at the same time. But this very circumstance gives you the clew to an easy grouping of your facts, since you can put those that happen together in the same division. An outline for an account of the burning of a barn is given below:—
I. Discovery of fire.
A. Fire shows through one of the windows.
B. The man of the house runs down the walk toward the barn.
C. The neighbors come running and calling.
D. One man is sent to call the fire department.
[All these facts occur almost simultaneously, and the sentences stating them must be connected or explained by some such phrase as "at the same time," "seeing this," "while this was being done," "at that moment," "meanwhile," etc.]
II. Fighting the fire.
A. The neighbors bring buckets—a line is formed.
B. The owner goes in and brings out the horse and cow.
C. The fire department arrives, connects the hose.
D. The firemen climb on the roof to direct the water; the fire is extinguished.
III. Final condition.
A. Half the hay burned, and two wagons ruined.
B. Horse and cow safe.
C. The barn can be rebuilt without tearing it completely down.
D. There was no insurance.
Exercise 98.—I. Make outlines, following this model, and write a newspaper account of any of the following events. Do not try to describe the occurrence particularly; simply put down as clearly as possible the facts, given in their proper order.
(1) A burglary in the daytime. (2) A rescue of a drowning boy by two playmates. (3) A flood which washes away part of a street-car track—how long cars were delayed, what passengers did, how track was repaired, etc. (4) How a dog, supposed to be mad, frightened an entire neighborhood. (5) The burning of a department store. (6) The dedication of a church, a hospital, an asylum of any kind. (7) A lost child and how he was returned to his parents. (8) An accident to a street car. (9) A runaway. (10) A steeple climber faints away halfway up a steeple, where he hangs suspended by the rope attached to his belt. Tell how he was saved. (11) A bear belonging to a circus escapes, and after roaming about for a day or so is captured by the circus men. (12) A high wind blows down telegraph poles, unroofs barns, and throws trees across the roads. Write an account of the amount of damage done.
II. Write a newspaper account of any event at your school: (1) A commencement day. (2) A reception day. (3) A play or entertainment. (4) A panic over a supposed fire. (5) A boy is locked in and has great difficulty in getting out. (6) A water pipe is broken and stopped by the presence of mind of one of the teachers.
60. Conversation.—In the narratives which you have been writing there has been little if any occasion for conversation. In writing stories or anecdotes in which certain people come into contact with other persons, there is often no better way to give a vivid and interesting account of what happens than to tell what was said. This is equally true of real and of invented stories. People not only show their characters when they speak, but they indicate the course of events. The fact that one favorite form of writing consists entirely of conversation (for that is all that any play is) shows how truthfully and vividly facts can be presented in this way.
Exercise 99.—Try telling in conversational form some of the fables mentioned on page 139, or write in this form the fable of (1) Death and the Woodchopper; (2) The Wolf and the Lamb; (3) The Grasshopper and the Ant; (4) The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse; (5) The Council of the Rats (Who'll bell the cat?); (6) The Fox and the Grapes (this as a monologue, or what the fox says to himself, from the moment he sees the grapes until he gives up trying to secure them).
Exercise 100.—Give a conversation which you think is characteristic and lifelike, such as might have occurred between any two of the following persons. Try to bring out something of the story which naturally comes to your mind in connection with these people.
1. Joan of Arc to her mother the day before she leaves her home to go to the court of the king.
[Suggestions: Her mother laments over the dangers of the road; Joan reassures her—she is to wear armor and be escorted by twenty soldiers. Her mother asks again why Joan wishes to set out. Joan answers by explaining about her "Voices" and her certainty that she is sent by heaven to rescue France.]
[Read the story of Joan of Arc and of the other persons to be treated in this lesson before you begin to write the dialogue.]
2. Two boys of Puritan families about to embark for America on the Mayflower.
3. Christopher Columbus explaining to a friend what his hopes are in seeking out Queen Isabella.
4. A boy and girl in Old Manhattan on Christmas Day, bringing out, if possible, some of the customs of the times.
5. William Tell to his little son before he shoots the apple from his head.
6. The conversation at the christening of the Princess who was afterward to be the Sleeping Beauty, bringing in the arrival and curse of the wicked fairy.
7. Conversation of Hop o' my Thumb's father and mother, when they decide that the children must be left in the woods because they cannot earn enough to feed them.
8. Conversations between the Grecian warriors who fell at Thermopylæ, the evening before the battle.
9. Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday. Robinson is trying to explain (a) city life, (b) how and why food is cooked, (c) about his own children in England, (d) what winter is like when there is snow and ice.
Exercise 101.—Try in the same way to bring out character by inventing a dialogue between the persons mentioned below:—
1. A gentle elder sister and a little boy, very irritable and cross from a long illness. He wishes to go outdoors to play and is only persuaded to stay in by the promise of a new game.
2. Two little girls playing at dolls. One is very much given to ordering the other about, but finally encounters rebellion.
3. One boy is urging another to go swimming with him. The second boy is afraid and makes all kinds of excuses.
4. A very bright pupil trying to explain a lesson in arithmetic to another who has no head for mathematics.
5. Two little boys playing Indians; one is teaching another how to play.
6. A father, tired and sleepy, and a little child asking questions.
7. Imaginary conversation between a lion and a polar bear, whose cages are side by side in a circus. Each tells the other about his home life when he was free.