Practice Book

Excerpt

CHAPTER I.

MIND ACTIVITIES DOMINATED BY A CONSCIOUSNESS OF Power, Largeness, Freedom, Animation, Movement.

1. "Ho! strike the flag-Staff deep, Sir Knight--ho! scatter flowers, fair
maids:
Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute--ho! gallants, draw your blades."


2. "Awake, Sir King, the gates unspar!
Rise up and ride both fast and far!
The sea flows over bolt and bar."

3. "I would call upon all the true sons of New England to co-operate with the laws of man and the justice of heaven."

4. "Robert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane,
And Volmond, emperor of Allemaine,
Apparelled in magnificent attire,
With retinue of many a knight and squire,
On St. John's eve at vespers proudly sat,
And heard the priest chant the Magnificat."


5. "Then the master,
With a gesture of command,
Waved his hand;
And at the word,
Loud and sudden there was heard
All around them and below
The sound of hammers, blow on blow,
Knocking away the shores and spurs.
And see! she stirs!
She starts,--she moves,--she seems to feel
The thrill of life along her keel,
And, spurning with her foot the ground,
With one exulting, joyous bound,
She leaps into the ocean's arms!"


6. "Under his spurning feet, the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed,
And the landscape sped away behind,
Like an ocean flying before the wind."


7. "The wind, one morning sprang up from sleep,
Saying, 'Now for a frolic! now for a leap!
Now for a madcap galloping chase!
I'll make a commotion in every place!'"


8. "O hark! O hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O sweet and far, from cliff and scar,
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!"


9. "It is done!
Clang of bell and roar of gun!
Send the tidings up and down.
How the belfries rock and reel!
How the great guns, peal on peal,
Fling the joy from town to town!"


10. "O sacred forms, how proud you look!
How high you lift your heads into the sky!
How huge you are, how mighty and how free!
Ye are the things that tower, that shine; whose smile
Makes glad--whose frown is terrible; whose forms,
Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear
Of awe divine."

CHAPTER II.

MIND ACTIVITIES DOMINATED BY A CONSCIOUSNESS OF Reflection OR Processes OF Thought, Clearness, Definiteness.

1. "Beyond the street a tower,—beyond the tower a moon,—beyond the moon a star,—beyond the Star, what?"

2. "Once more: speak clearly, if you speak at all;
Carve every word before you let it fall;
Don't, like a lecturer or dramatic star,
Try overhard to roll the British R;
Do put your accents in the proper spot;
Don't--let me beg you--don't say 'How?' for 'What?'
And when you stick on conversation's burrs,
Don't strew the pathway with those dreadful urs."


3. "To be, or not to be; that is the question:--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep,--
No more:"



4. "I should say sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the first
characteristic of all men in any way heroic....