—Briggs, Mckinney, and Skeffinton, Junior High
    School English, For the Eighth Grade, 1926

A CHALLENGE TO YOUR SPIRIT

             Girls and boys of America, you
             Are the hope of the world!
             You can’t evade it, young America.

             And are you going to go on dancing
             And spinning on your ear?
             What are you thinking about, sitting

             There staring into the dark?
             Haven’t you been lying around long
             Enough? Shouldn’t you go to work?

Find as interesting a subject as possible.
Write as vivid a sketch as you can
Of a person who attracts you or an animal.


SUGGESTIONS FOR SUBJECTS

How I Thought Out a Hard Sentence.
When My Chum and I Played Ghost.
           —A good one, don’t you think?

A Lively Street Scene.
           —Except for a few, the people of Saint Louis
               Are not old timers, but are stylish and reformed.

Helping Father with the Threshing
A letter from Telemachus to his mother.
           —“By crickets, there are big things in this world!”

Preparing Hog and Beef for Market.
Anchored in a Fog,
The Scum on our Pond.
Think over what you have accomplished.
Was it all that you wished?
Has this story been told before?

The thought of the theme is good, but the form
Is poor. A sign of inexcusable
Carelessness or deplorable stupidity.

You should have learned by now to tell
A short story with a single point.
Why are the sentences so uninteresting?

Gott im Himmel! Practice. Improve
The wording. You have told enough
Untruths for one day. That will do.


STUDYING AND MAKING LITTLE POEMS PACKED
WITH MEANING

here are some little poems and verses,
Each of which suggests a good deal
More than it tells. The details are signs:

           1. Gulls are strong of wing. Gulls
               Follow ships to sea. The sea
               Is deep. The moon is a cold body.

            2. Nothing ever happens in this
                Slow town. The roads have been muddy
                For days. The red ants hasten.

            3. When I was playin’ wid my brudder,
                Happy was I. All round de little
                Farm I wandered when I was young.

Perhaps some of you would like to try
Putting into rhythmic form, in a few words
Full of meaning, some little scene you have felt.