1.  I left my garden for a week, just at the close of a dry spell.  A season of rain immediately set in, and when I returned the transformation was wonderful.  In one week every vegetable had fairly jumped forward.  The tomatoes, which I left slender plants, eaten of bugs and debating whether they would go backward or forward, had become stout and lusty, with thick stems and dark leaves, and some of them had blossomed.  The corn waved like that which grows so rank out of the French-English mixture at Waterloo.  The squashes—­I will not speak of the squashes.  The most remarkable growth was the asparagus.  There was not a spear above ground when I went away; and now it had sprung up, and gone to seed, and there were stalks higher than my head.

—­Warner:  My Summer in a Garden.

2.  The wedding ceremony was solemn and beautiful, in the church on the estate.  At the door of the palace stood the mother of the bride, to greet her return from the ceremony with the blessing, “May you always have bread and salt,” as she served her from a loaf of black bread, with a salt cellar in the center, as is the Russian custom for prince and peasant.  Just at this dramatic moment a courier dashed up with a telegram from the Czar and Czarina, and their gifts for the bride,—­a magnificent tiara and necklace of diamonds.  The other presents were already displayed in a magnificent room; but we saw their splendor through the glass of locked cases,—­a precaution surprising to an Englishwoman.  The large swan of forcemeat was the only reminder of boyar customs at the rather Parisian feast.  Wine was served between the courses, with a toast; while guests in turn left their seats to express their sentiments to bride and groom, who stood to receive them.

—­Mary Louise Dunbar:  The Household of a Russian Prince
("Atlantic Monthly “).

+Theme XXII.+—­Write a paragraph by giving details for one of the following topic statements:—­

1.  There were many interesting things on the farm where I spent my summer vacation.

2.  The sounds heard in the forest at night are somewhat alarming to one who is not used to the language of the woods.

3.  I am always much amused when the Sewing Circle meets at my mother’s house.

4.  Good roads are of advantage to farmers in many ways.

5.  A baseball game furnishes abundant opportunity to exercise good judgment.

6.  I remember well the first time that I visited a large city.

7.  I shall never forget my first attempt at milking a cow.

8.  The haunted house is a square, old-fashioned one of the colonial type.

9.  A mouse suddenly entering the class room caused much disturbance.

10.  A freshman’s trials are numerous.

(Do the details bear upon the main idea?  If the paragraph is long and rambling, condense by omitting the least important parts.  By changing the order of the sentences, can you improve the paragraph?)