| 1. A River | 11. A House |
| 2. A Road | 12. A Book |
| 3. A Cloud | 13. A Bridge |
| 4. The Sunshine | 14. A Railroad Track |
| 5. A Stone Wall | 15. An Airplane |
| 6. A Horse | 16. A Flag |
| 7. A Tree | 17. A Pen |
| 8. A Garden | 18. A Valley |
| 9. A Mountain | 19. A High Building |
| 10. The Wind | 20. A Telescope |
DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING
Take for your subject anything that is extremely familiar. Show your reader both the physical beauty that any one may observe and also the inner beauty that the average person is not so likely to note. Write in such a way that you will show your real emotions towards your subject. Make your essay rise steadily in power and let your last paragraph present the thought that you wish to leave with your reader.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] From “Alarms and Discursions,” by Gilbert K. Chesterton. Copyright, 1911, by Dodd, Mead and Company.
MEDITATION AND IMAGINATION[6]
By HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
(1846-1916). An American essayist and journalist, for many years editor of The Outlook. His literary work was so important that he was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Among his books are Nature in New England; My Study Fire; Short Studies in Literature; Essays on Books and Culture; The Life of the Spirit; Japan To-day and To-morrow.
Essayists are natural lovers of books. In the records of human experience they find subjects that stimulate the imagination, arouse the sentiments, and lead to meditation.
Almost every essayist draws largely, for the better illustration of his thought, from the field of literature. To him the characters of history or of fiction are almost as real as those of to-day. In the realm of books the essayist sees an expansion of the world in which he lives. In addition, he makes the acquaintance of others who have meditated on the many interests of life. He looks upon authors, living or dead, as upon a company of friends. In their companionship he gains unceasing delight.