Exercise 127.—Write an explanation of the following processes, as if to a person wholly ignorant of them:—
1. How to make a dam in a brook; to make a snow man; a snow fort (with blocks pressed into shape in boxes); to set up a tent; to irrigate a garden; to hang wall paper; to teach a pet animal tricks; to build a fire out of doors.
2. How to make cocoa, soup, bread, butter, cheese, cake, custard.
3. How to grow flowers indoors; in a hot bed. How to plant and grow lettuce, tomatoes, tobacco, corn, mushrooms, celery, nasturtiums, crocuses, potatoes.
4. How to harness a horse. How to get a trunk from your house to your cousin's in another town. How to develop an exposed photographic plate.
Probably you have been able to treat the subjects above directly from your own experience or observation. In the following subjects you will probably need to consult some books, but be careful not simply to repeat their language. Look up the subject, inform yourself of all necessary details of manufacture or use, and then write an exposition (as if to some one younger than yourself), explaining any terms that would be new to him and stating the facts in the simplest, plainest way.
Exercise 128.—Write as if in answer to any one of the following questions from a child:—
1. How are bricks made? paper? glass? ink? iron? steel? gold leaf? shingles? baseballs? hairbrushes? mirrors?
2. Why are fishhooks made in the form they are? saws? wheels?
3. Why does an ice house keep the ice from melting?
4. How does a water wheel work? a windmill? a well sweep? scissors? Why does a chimney "draw"? What makes popcorn pop?
Exercise 129.—I. Explain, with a diagram or drawing, the mechanism of the following objects. Letter or number the different parts of your diagram, and refer to them in that way. Plan your exposition as if trying to make the matter clear to a younger brother or sister.
A pump, lamp, candle, stove, furnace, cistern, switches on a railroad track, city waterworks, refrigerator, ice-cream freezer, silo, limekiln.
II. Explain how a book is bound; how a horse is harnessed; how windows are hung; what makes a window shade go up when you pull the string; how thread is spun and cloth woven; how grain is ground into flour; how salt is obtained.
III. Give instructions (using, if necessary, a lettered diagram): for making a snare for rabbits; a mouse trap; a bear trap; a mole trap; a box; a basket; a bow and arrow; a needlebook; a cover for a book; a kite; a baseball diamond; a tennis court; a doll's hat; a springboard; a picture frame; a toboggan slide; a hasty shelter of boughs for camping; a doll's dress (with pattern).
81. Explanation of Games.—One form of exposition which you have often used is the explanation of games and contests; and you have probably suffered from having other people give you imperfect and confused directions for playing a game unfamiliar to you, finding at some critical time in the contest that a detail or rule has been forgotten.
The following is an exposition of a game which will almost certainly be unfamiliar to you, but which is a great favorite in Spain:—
Pelota is an old Basque game, resembling hand ball, which of late years has come greatly into fashion in Spain. It is given over to professionals, and it is said that none can continue it more than three or four years, so severely does it tax the constitution.
Pelota is played in large glass-roofed buildings, one side of which is devoted in all its breadth to the asphalt court. The side wall of the court at Madrid is 175 feet long and the end walls are 50 feet broad and 40 feet high.
The wall fencing the players has a rib of metal along it, about a yard from the pavement, and another near the top, which limit of height is carried along the longitudinal wall opposite the spectators.
A ball is only in play when it hits the first wall between these lines or the long wall below the prescribed limit. The court is marked off by lines at regular distances of about four yards. The spaces from four to seven are important, for the ball when first played must drop from the wall between these two spaces.
The ball, which weighs about four ounces, is thrown from a basket-work gauntlet or cesta, with a leather glove attached for fastening to the hand, and during a game I have seen the ball sent with such terrific force that it has rebounded from the wall at one end of the court against that at the other. There are usually four players, two on each side, and the aim of the players is to cause the ball to rebound from the wall into so remote or unexpected a place in the court that it will be impossible for their opponents to reach it in time to return it again to the wall. The time that the ball is in play, that is, the time that both sides are successful in keeping the ball in motion, is called a "rally." There are frequently, between good players, rallies of sixteen strokes or more. During a match game of fifty up, the players will wear their shoes right through.
Pelota is popular in most Spanish towns and villages, and one frequently sees notices on church walls to the effect that it is forbidden to play pelota against them.—E. Main: Cities and Sights of Spain.
Are there any questions that you would like to ask about pelota after reading this explanation? Do you feel that you would need to know more about it before trying to play? If so, remember to make your own treatment of the following subjects complete enough to satisfy a child in the Philippines, who knows no more about marbles than you do about pelota.
Exercise 130.—Tell how to play baseball; football; checkers; dominoes; basket ball; marbles; tag; hide-and-seek; drop the handkerchief; any game peculiar to your neighborhood. Explain how a field-day is conducted. What is a handicap? How do little girls play keep house? What do you mean by "playing Indians"?
Exercise 131.—I. Following the model below, give good instructions for learning how to swim, to sail a boat, to ride a bicycle, to drive, to shoot a rifle, a revolver, to fish, to run a sewing machine, to paddle a canoe, to ride horseback, to go on snowshoes.
Use a diagram, if necessary, and give all the information you yourself would like to have in beginning a new process, mentioning mistakes usually made by beginners and telling how to avoid them.
II. Tell as well as you can how to bandage a cut, how to treat a burn, how to make a road, how to lay asphalt, brick, or macadam pavements, how to shoe a horse.
The first thing in learning to skate is to be sure that your skates are properly attached to your foot. If you fasten them on with straps, do not pull the buckle too tight, as this stops the circulation of the blood and may end in frozen toes; if by clamps, see that they are very firmly fastened, or the skate may be wrenched off in some sudden movement, giving you a fall. Also be sure that the blades are sharp, as it is very hard to skate with dull blades. After you have attended to these matters, one of the best ways to begin is to skate with some one who is strong enough to hold you up, or if you cannot arrange this, to push a chair in front of you, until you have confidence enough to go alone.