to keep them in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength; neither durst I stir from the posture I was in; but holding up the chests with all my might, I stood in that manner near half an hour, in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a little after, the water still rising, my raft floated again, and I thrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then driving up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth of a little river, with land on both sides, and a strong current or tide running up.  I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to be driven too high up the river; hoping in time to see some ship at sea, and therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.

At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, to which, with great pain and difficulty, I guided my raft, and at last got so near, that reaching ground with my oar, I could thrust her directly in.  But here I had like to have dipped all my cargo into the sea again; for that shore lying pretty steep-that is to say, sloping—­there was no place to land but where one end of my float, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the other sink lower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo again.  All that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it fast to the shore, near a flat piece of ground, which I expected the water would flow over; and so it did.  As soon as I found water enough, for my raft drew about a foot of water, I thrust her upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened or moored her, by sticking my two broken oars into the ground-one on one side, near one end, and one on the other side, near the other end; and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore.

Appendix 6

    READING LISTS

One of the best ways to know words is through seeing them used by the masters.  For this reason, as well as for many others, you should read extensively in good literature.  The following lists of prose works may prove useful for your guidance.  They are not intended to be exclusive, not intended to designate “the hundred best books.”  Rather do they name some good books of fairly varied types.  These are not all of equal merit, even in their use of words.  Some use words with nice discrimination, some with splendid vividness and force.  For each author only one or two books are named, but in many instances you will wish to read further in the author, perhaps indeed his entire works.

Biography and Autobiography

Boswell, James:  Life of Samuel Johnson
Bradford, Gamaliel:  Lee the American; American Portraits, 1875-1900
Franklin, Benjamin:  Autobiography
Grant, U. S.:  Personal Memoirs
Irving, Washington:  Life of Goldsmith
Paine, A. B.:  Life of Mark Twain
Walton, Izaak:  Lives