composition.

It may be profitable for the pupils to reproduce the selection from Darwin.

+Exercises on the Composition of the Sentence and the Paragraph+.

SELECTION FROM HABBERTON--"HELEN'S BABIES."

The whistles completed, I was marched with music to the place where the
"Jacks" grew. It was just such a place as boys delight in--low, damp, and
boggy, with a brook hidden away under overhanging ferns and grasses.

1. The children knew by sight the plant that bore the "Jacks," and every
discovery was announced by a piercing shriek of delight. 2. At first I
looked hurriedly toward the brook as each yell clove the air; but, as I
became accustomed to it, my attention was diverted by some exquisite ferns.
3. Suddenly, however, a succession of shrieks announced that something was
wrong, and across a large fern I saw a small face in a great deal of agony.
4. Budge was hurrying to the relief of his brother, and was soon as deeply
imbedded as Toddie was in the rich, black mud at the bottom of the brook.
5. I dashed to the rescue, stood astride the brook, and offered a hand to
each boy, when a treacherous tuft of grass gave way, and, with a glorious
splash, I went in myself.

This accident turned Toddie's sorrow to laughter, but I can't say I made
light of my misfortune on that account. To fall into _clear_ water is not
pleasant, even when one is trout-fishing; but to be clad in white trousers
and suddenly drop nearly knee-deep into the lap of mother earth is quite a
different thing.