Her iron will was broken in her mind,
Her noble heart was broken in her breast.

From the Princess’s cry then, “Grant me your son to nurse,” it is but a natural result that she should bring the Prince’s wounded men with him into the College, now a hospital.  Through ministering to her lover, she comes to love him; and theories yield to “the lord of all.”

—­Copeland-Rideout:  Introduction to Tennyson’s Princess.

+Theme LXXI.+—­Write the plot of one of the following:—­

1. Lochinvar, Scott. 2. Rip Van Winkle, Irving. 3.  One story from A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens. 4. Silas Marner, George Eliot. 5.  The last magazine story you have read. 6.  Some story assigned by the teacher.

+Theme LXXII.+—­Write three brief plots.  Have the class choose the one that will make the most interesting story.

+Theme LXXIII.+—­Write a story, using the plot selected by the class in the preceding theme.

(Are the events related in your story probable or improbable?)

+143.  The Introduction.+—­Our pleasure in a story depends upon our clear understanding of the various situations, and this understanding may often be best given by an introduction that states something of the time, place, characters, and circumstances as shown in Section 6.  The purpose of the introduction is to make the story more effective, and what it shall contain is determined by the needs of the story itself.  The last half of a well-written story will not be interesting to one who has not read the first half, because the first half will contain much that is essential to the complete understanding of the main point of the story.  A story begun with conversation at once arouses interest, but care must be taken to see that the reader gets sufficient descriptive and explanatory matter to enable him to understand the story as the plot develops, or the interest will begin to lag.

+Theme LXXIV.+—­Write a narrative.

Suggested subjects:—­
  1.  The Christmas surprise.
  2.  How the mortgage was paid.
  3.  The race between the steam roller and the traction engine.
  4.  The new girl in the boarding school.
  5.  The Boss, and how he won his title.

(Be sure that your introduction is such that the entire situation is understood.  Name different points in the story that led you to say what you have in the introduction.  Have you mentioned any unnecessary points?)

+144.  The Incentive Moment.+—­The chief business of a story-teller is to arouse the interest of his readers, and the sooner he succeeds, the better.  Usually he tries to arouse interest from the very beginning of his story.  He therefore places in the introduction or near it a statement designed to stimulate the curiosity of his readers.  The point at which interest begins has been termed the incentive moment.  In the following selection notice that the first sentence tells who, when, and where.  (Section 6.) The second sentence causes us to ask, what was it? and by the time that is answered we are curious to know what happened and how the adventure ended.