(When preparing to relate this incident ask yourself first whether you know exactly what happened.  Consider then how to begin the story so that your hearer will know when and where it happened and who were there.  Include in the beginning any statement that will assist the reader in understanding the events which follow.)

+7.  The Point of a Story.+—­It is not necessary that a story be concerned with a thrilling event in order to be interesting.  Even a most commonplace occurrence may be so told that it is worth listening to.  It is more important that a story have a point and be so told that this point will be readily appreciated than that it deal with important or thrilling events.  The story should lead easily and rapidly to its point, and when this is reached the end of the story should not be far distant.  The beginning of a story will contain statements that will assist us in appreciating the point when we come to it, but if the point is plainly stated near the beginning, or even if it is too strongly suggested, our story will drag.

At what point in the following selection is the interest greatest?

During the Civil War, I lived in that portion of Tennessee which was alternately held by the conflicting armies.  My father and brothers were away, as were all the other men in the neighborhood, except a few very old ones and some half-grown boys.  Mother and I were in constant fear of injury from stragglers from both armies.  We had never been disturbed, for our farm was a mile or more back from the road along which such detachments usually moved.  We had periods of comparative quiet in which we felt at ease, and then would come reports of depredation near at hand, or rumors of the presence of marauding bands in neighboring settlements.

One evening such a rumor came to us, and we were consequently anxious.  Early next morning, before the fog had lifted, I caught sight of two men crossing the road at the far end of the orchard.  They jumped over the fence into the orchard and disappeared among the trees.  I had but a brief glimpse of them, but it was sufficient to show me that one had a gun over his shoulder, while the other carried a saber.

“Quick, Mother, quick!” I cried.  “Come to the window.  There are soldiers in the orchard.”

Keeping out of sight, we watched the progress of the men through the orchard.  Our brief glimpses of them through the trees showed that they were not coming directly to the house, but were headed for the barn and sheds, and in order to keep out of sight, were following a slight ravine which ran across the orchard and led to the back of the barns.

Mother and I were very much excited and hardly knew what to do.  Finally it was determined to hide upstairs in hopes that the men were bent on stealing chickens or pigs, and might leave without disturbing the house.  We locked the doors and went upstairs, taking with us the old musket and the butcher knife.  We could hear the men about the barn, and after what seemed an interminable time we heard them coming towards the house.