The Winter Birds:—For several days before writing this theme, prepare material for it by observation and reading. Watch the birds, and see what they are doing and how they live. Use a field glass if you can get one, and take careful notes on what you see. Make especial use of any interesting incidents that come under your observation.
When you write, take up each kind of bird separately, and tell what you have found out about its winter life: how it looks; where you have seen it; what it was doing. Speak also of its food and shelter; the perils it endures; its intelligence; anecdotes about it. Make your theme simple and lively, as if you were talking to some one about the birds. Try to use good color words and sound words, and expressions that give a vivid idea of the activities and behavior of the birds.
When you have finished, lay the theme aside for a time; then read it again and see how you can touch it up to make it clearer and more straightforward.
Christmas at our House:—Write as if you were telling of some particular occasion, although you may perhaps be combining the events of several Christmas days. Tell of the preparations for Christmas: the planning; the cooking; the whispering of secrets. Make as much use of conversation as possible, and do not hesitate to use even very small details and little anecdotes. Perhaps you will wish to tell of the hanging of the stockings on Christmas Eve; if there are children in the family, tell what they did and said. Write as vividly as possible of Christmas morning, and the finding of the gifts; try to bring out the confusion and the happiness of opening the parcels and displaying the presents. Quote some of the remarks directly, and speak of particularly pleasing or absurd gifts. Go on and tell of the sports and pleasures of the day. Speak of the guests, describing some of them, and telling what they said and did. Try to bring out contrasts here. Put as much emphasis as you wish upon the dinner, and the quantities of good things consumed. Try to quote the remarks of some of the people at the table. If your theme has become rather long, you might close it by a brief account of the dispersing of the family after dinner. You might, however, complete your account of the day by telling of the evening, with its enjoyments and its weariness.
COLLATERAL READINGS
| Wild Life Near Home | D.L. Sharp |
| A Watcher in the Woods | " " |
| The Lay of the Land | " " |
| Winter | " " |
| The Face of the Fields | " " |
| The Fall of the Year | " " |
| Roof and Meadow | " " |
| Wild Life in the Rockies | Enos A. Mills |
| Kindred of the Wild | C.G.D. Roberts |
| Watchers of the Trail | " " |
| Haunters of the Silences | " " |
| The Ways of Wood Folk | W.J. Long |
| Eye Spy | W.H. Gibson |
| Sharp Eyes | " " |
| Birds in the Bush | Bradford Torrey |
| Everyday Birds | " " |
| Nature's Invitation | " " |
| Bird Stories from Burroughs (selections) | John Burroughs |
| Winter Sunshine | " " |
| Pepacton | " " |
| Riverby | " " |
| Wake-Robin | " " |
| Signs and Seasons | " " |
| How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar | Bret Harte |
| Santa Claus's Partner | T.N. Page |
| The First Christmas Tree | Henry Van Dyke |
| The Other Wise Man | " " |
| The Old Peabody Pew | K.D. Wiggin |
| Miss Santa Claus of the Pullman | Annie F. Johnson |
| Christmas | Zona Gale |
| A Christmas Mystery | W.J. Locke |
| Christmas Eve on Lonesome | John Fox, Jr. |
| By the Christmas Fire | S.M. Crothers |
| Colonel Carter's Christmas | F.H. Smith |
| Christmas Jenny (in A New England Nun) | Mary E. Wilkins |
| A Christmas Sermon | R.L. Stevenson |
| The Boy who Brought Christmas | Alice Morgan |
| Christmas Stories | Charles Dickens |
| The Christmas Guest | Selma Lagerlöf |
| The Legend of the Christmas Rose | " " |