up in the deodars, and the people waited for Miss Beighton to shoot and win. Cubbon was at one horn of the semicircle round the shooters, and Barr-Saggott at the other. Miss Beighton was the last on the list. 5 The scoring had been weak, and the bracelet, with Commissioner Barr-Saggott, was hers to a certainty.

The Commissioner strung her bow with his own sacred hands. She stepped forward, looked at the bracelet, and her first arrow went true to a hair-full Io into the heart of the "gold,"-counting nine points.

Young Cubbon on the left turned white, and his Devil prompted Barr-Saggott to smile. Now horses used to shy when Barr-Saggott smiled. Kitty saw that smile. She looked to her left-front, gave an 15 almost imperceptible nod to Cubbon, and went on shooting.

I wish I could describe the scene that followed. It was out of the ordinary and most improper. Miss Kitty fitted her arrows with immense deliberation, so 20 that everyone might see what she was doing. She was a perfect shot; and her forty-six pound bow suited her to a nicety. She pinned the wooden legs of the target with great care four successive times. She pinned the wooden top of the target once, and all the ladies 25 looked at each other. Then she began some fancy shooting at the white, which, if you hit it, counts exactly one point. She put five arrows into the white. It was wonderful archery; but, seeing that her business was to make "golds" and win the bracelet, Barr30 Saggott turned a delicate green like young water-grass. Next, she shot over the target twice, and then wide to the left twice-always with the same deliberation—

while a chilly hush fell over the company, and Mrs. Beighton took out her handkerchief. Then Kitty shot at the ground in front of the target, and split several arrows. Then she made a red-or seven points-just to show what she could do if she liked, 5 and she finished up her amazing performance with some more fancy shooting at the target supports. Here is her score as it was pricked off :

Barr-Saggott looked as if the last few arrow-heads had been driven into his legs instead of the target's, and the deep stillness was broken by a little snubby, mottled, half-grown girl saying, in a shrill voice of 15 triumph, "Then I've won!"

Mrs. Beighton did her best to bear up; but she wept in the presence of the people. No training could help her through such a disappointment. Kitty unstrung her bow with a vicious jerk, and went back 20 to her place, while Barr-Saggott was trying to pretend that he enjoyed snapping the bracelet on the snubby girl's raw, red wrist. It was an awkward scene—most awkward. Every one tried to depart in a body and leave Kitty to the mercy of her mamma.

But Cubbon took her away instead, and-the rest isn't worth printing.

25

B. CHARACTER.

1. George Eliot.

Born 1819. Died 1880.

FROM Adam Bede, CHAPTER II.

[Most obvious of the typical ways of treating character in narration is that dealing with the external traits of the character. The method seems chiefly to be employed on the first introduction of the person, generally at the beginning of a story, to give, once for all, a notion of what he looks like, to furnish a starting point for the further development. Of this method Scott furnishes the best and fullest illustrations, as in the opening of Ivanhoe; but the following from George Eliot, containing as it does some obvious faults, will stand for the merits and defects of the method. With it should be compared the elaborate description in Chapter II. of Mr. Gilfil's Love Story.]

SEVERAL of the men followed Ben's lead, and the traveller pushed his horse on to the Green, as Dinah walked rather quickly, and in advance of her companions, toward the cart under the maple tree. While 5 she was near Seth's tall figure she looked short, but when she had mounted the cart, and was away from all comparison, she seemed above the middle height of woman, though in reality she did not exceed it-an effect which was due to the slimness of her figure, and

the simple line of her black stuff dress. The stranger was struck with surprise as he saw her approach and mount the cart-surprise, not so much for the feminine delicacy of her appearance, as at the total absence of self-consciousness in her demeanor. He had made 5 up his mind to see her advance with a measured step, and a demure solemnity of countenance; he had felt sure that her face would be mantled with a smile of conscious saintship, or else charged with denunciatory bitterness. He knew but two types of Methodist 10 the ecstatic and the bilious. But Dinah walked as simply as if she were going to market, and seemed as unconscious of her outward appearance as a little boy: there was no blush, no tremulousness, which said, "I know you think me a pretty woman, too young to 15 preach;" no casting up or down of the eyelids, no compression of the lips, no attitude of the arms, that said, "But you must think of me as a saint." She held no book in her ungloved hands, but let them hang down lightly crossed before her, as she stood 20 and turned her gray eyes on the people. There was no keenness in her eyes; they seemed rather to be shedding love than making observations; they had the liquid look which tells that the mind is full of what it has to give out, rather than impressed by external 25 objects. She stood with her left hand towards the descending sun; and leafy boughs screened her from its rays; but in this sober light the delicate coloring of her face seemed to gather a calm vividness, like flowers at evening. It was a small oval face, of a 30 uniform transparent whiteness, with an egg-like line of cheek and chin, a full but firm mouth, a delicate

nostril, and a low perpendicular brow, surmounted by a rising arch of parting, between smooth locks of pale reddish hair. The hair was drawn straight back behind the ears and covered, except for an inch or two 5 above the brow, by a net quaker cap. The eye

brows, of the same color as the hair, were perfectly horizontal and firmly pencilled; the eyelashes, though no darker, were long and abundant; nothing was left blurred or unfinished.' It was one of those faces that Io make one think of white flowers with light touches of color on their pure petals. The eyes had no peculiar beauty, beyond that of expression; they looked so simple, so candid, so gravely loving, that no accusing scowl, no light sneer, could help melting away before 15 their glance. Joshua Rann gave a long cough, as if he were clearing his throat in order to come to a new understanding with himself; Chad Cranage lifted up his leather skull-cap and scratched his head; and Wiry Ben wondered how Seth had the pluck to think of 20 courting her.

"A sweet woman," the stranger said to himself, but surely Nature never meant her for a preacher."

1 Technically, the description at this point is not of the best. It would be impossible for a stranger on horseback, at the outskirts of the crowd, to notice such details as are here given. In fact, the reader will notice that, while the whole produces a complete impression, the mechanism is faulty, in that it deals (1) with the general appearance of Dinah, (2) her effect on the stranger, (3) the details of her face and head, (4) her expression, (5) the effect on the men, and (6) finally reverts to the effect which she produced on the stranger. See the introduction to Dr. C. S.

Baldwin's Specimens of Description (Holt: 1895).