Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-02-20
s0ME1mIxG ABOUT COMPOsnIOSs.


Come. Lily aud Miliy, and belly aud
Mellev, and Mary and Sarah, and jim
nv and Johnny and Charley, and all
the rest Of You that have n composition |
to write for next week, dry up your tears, |
put off the dolefal faces, draw OPP the |
chairs close and listen while ] tell you |
how to do il. You can't2 o, yes you
can, If only yon know how. Such hard
wosk2 know Il Il. / know all about
Il. Many time have sat an hour, with
a pen 10 my hand and the only thing
ia the world that | could think Of would
be, "Spring ia the plehsentest season Of
the year
afhe flowers begin 70 blosason, the
trees put forth their green leaves the
squirrel hops from branch TO branch and
everythingis very glad to think spring IS
coming. And when got so far, / always
had to stop,for waut.oi something 70 soy.
o yes.--you cant tell me anything bad
about the matter that / don't know al
ready. always feel sorry for children
when they come home from school With
their long competitions faces on, and so
| want TO tell you about class OF boys
and girls hereabouts who think il Is fan
10 write their composition When they
have one TO write they come bounding
into the house TO tell Of H. as joyful As
il they we're going skating.
/ ondt red much what the magic
was tina had made play Of what used to
be such bard work and so | went mp 70
school one day to End out This was
what saw. In a recitatiou-room sat
the teacher at her desk, and before her
we're about twenty little boys and girls
Some of them we're pretty, and some we're
plain. Some had light hair, and some
dark There we're blue eyes, and black
eyes, and brown eyes, and gray eyes,
but the eyes were al looking straight at
the teacher. and the lips were 81 smiling.
And this was what heard:
"Children, how many feet has a dog 2
"Four. f4tt tttt
"How many has a catP' "Four.
allow many ears have they cachT'
STwo."
oH'Ho~ many taiIs7' eoue.
"What are their skins both covered
WITH Hair"
"Then what is the difference between
dog and eatf'
The child looked blank, and no one
spoke.
at there we're cat and dog both
in this room, could you tell me which
was whiebY' ayes m.
"HowT
They dou't look alike" spoke up
Eddy, rather doubttully.
"But how differently do they look9
"The dog Is the biggest, said Johnny
Fay, sure that he had found it all out
"But suppose they were the same size
Ia little dog and a big catP'
Another silence, aud then Lnly's hant
WAS raised, and her blue eyes sparkled
as she said, timidly, "The kitty wouls
purr il you should stroke her, but tn,
dog wolldn't'
well, children, you need not tell ms
any more now, but want you to &,
home and look 81 all your dogs aud eat,
and see in what things they are differen
from each other, and the subject of YOU
next composition may be, Why a cat i
not dog aEle
The children were dismissed an,
went homes but yen may be sure tina
all the dogs and cats in about twent,
houses had to undergo thorough ex
animation that night They wert
doubtless somewhat surprised at havins
their claws counted, and their mouth
so uuceremeneously opened, and Their
teeth and tongues looked at, and thei
eyes looked into. And the dogs won
dered what the reasen was that they hai
to be taken into dark room, and thei
hair rubbed the wrong way to see if
would sparkle But they bore II yer
patiently, considering that they coul
not be made to know what i was al ios
Then the children talked with lhei
fathers and mothers, aud rumaged thr
book shelves, and read everything the
could end about dogs and eats, and the
remembered many little stories abou
them themselves; and, when next com
position-day came, every one was ready
and as eager and happy as II they wer
about TO do some very pleasant thing.
| should like to tell you what some {
the compositions we're; what funn
things were in them, and how they a
laughed Some of the children diss
greed to some things, too. Harry ha
written that cats eyes were Away
green; Emma thought they were yellow
while Josie said her kittys were brown
Berry thought that the greatest differ
ence between cats and dogs was tina
boys liked dogs, and girls liked cats
Altogether, they had merry time owe
their compositions; and anu sure tbs
any one of these twenty children coul
tell the difference now between dc
and cat without any hesitation.
One day, somebody asked one Of thes
little boys why it was that be liked t
write compositions so we'll He twiste
his button hole with his fingers, an
looked up at the clouds with his eyes
and, after thinking minute, he said;
II guess it's cause always writ
about what I know. .ssss
Nov, thara's the sacret for Won. chi