American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-07-26
Now look perfectly natural, and wink

Now look perfectly natural, and wink
| all you please"
How did the man expect you to look
| natural, when he had done his best to
| make you feel uhNnatural, until you
couldn't even laugh at the absurdity of
his remark, and every eyelash was too
stiff to wink. No wonder the picture was
SO unlike your merry, laughing self, and
the stony eyes had not CLEAN of the
brightness that comes into them when
you sit flushed and happy to chat with
friend. If the artist could only catch you
unawares, and not let you know you were
sitting for your picture, that would be
something worth seeing.
Do you wonder what all this has to do
with compositions? A great deal, / as.
| sure you. There is the same difference
between the lively, sensible talk of real
boy or girl and the dull, stupid stuff they
put into compositions, that there is be
tween the living person sitting at ease,
without thought of how he is looking,
and the miserable being in the artists
chair If you want good picture you
must forget all about yourself; if you
would write a good composition, you
must forget that there is such thing
as composition. How shall you
do this? Well, in the first place, remem-
Der that the whole object of your writing
is to improve yourself, and not to interest
otHcT people, IL is not OF the least con-
sequence that you interest any one else;
you are to learn to express your ideas in
writing. What if you have no ideas?
That is not possible; the only trouble is
you try to express the ideas of some one
else, and you can no more do it than you
can sit for his picture. Write about real
things; objects that lie about you facts
IN your own history: things you have
learned by personal observation. 1t will
do you a great deal more good to tell in
plain, straightforward way how many
tradesmen were needed to make a
horseshoe, from the time the orc lay in
the earth until it was nailed upon the
horses foot; how the canary went to
sleep; what different games are played
with balls; what you did on a rainy day;
what you saw in the woods; how YOU
went fishing; how to make a kite, or a
sled, or work-basket; in short almost any
thing that you really know, than to get off
any number of fine sentences about faith,
and hope, and patience, and sclfdenial.
Lay up your facts first, and build your
theories afterwards. Write for your own
improvement now-by and by you may
try to edify other people A good way to
start a composition is to talk it. Sit down,
two of you boys and girls, and have a free
and-easy talk about something. Say all
the funny things you please, and all the
wise ones you can. By all means laugh
over it. Then sum up your talk something
in this fashion:
SNAKEs.-Mary is afraid of 'em. l had
one buttoncd up in my jacket once; green
one. Snakes like milk L read that in book.
There snakes in Ireland. Bridget says
so, and she says st. Patrick turned ZEN all out.
Mary wishes he would go TO Uncle Toms farm
and turn the snakes out, because she darcs MT
go after backberries on account of snakes.
Hvc seen picture of a man swallowing
snake, but don't believe it. Some snakes can
swallow man. Will says there's Il story in
his book that people used TO believe about,a
woman named Mcdusa, that told so many lies
her hair turned TO snakes. Snakes sleep all
winter, curlcd up in knots, somewhere and
crawl out of their skins in the spring."
Now, l will venture to say any two
young folks of ten or twelve would sit
down by themselves, and talk up a dozen
different subjects in half an hour. The
only thing to learn is first to note down
the facts, then arrange them little, and
you have Il real spnaposition.-LiHlc Cor
ll0jmI