2. Irving's impressions if he saw a library and reading room of today.

3. The value of good books in the progress of the world.

4. A list of twenty books that you like. Give your reasons.

5. A list of ten books that you do not like. Give your reasons. 6. A dream. (Real or imaginary.)

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Observe how Irving chooses the time of year for visiting Westminster Abbey. In whatever you write seek harmony. See that the setting of your story is in harmony with the characters. See that your language is in harmony with both. See that the paragraphs of your composition are harmonious in themselves, and that they are harmoniously joined. Thus you will give your writing a pleasing smoothness and an air of truthfulness.

Use the following topics as suggestions for oral or written work: 1. The distant view of an ivy-clad church. (Write what you have seen, or use your imagination.)

a. The mellowing effect of time on its walls.

b. The mellowing effect of time on its parishioners.

2. The vanity of human ambition.

3. The tomb of a crusader.

4. Mary Queen of Scots.

5. Choose a subject for discussion or composition. Give the reason for your choice.

THE STAGE COACH

Use the following topics as suggestions for oral or written work: 1. Traveling in America a century ago.

2. Fellow travelers in a stage coach. 3. Going home for Christmas.

4. Marketing for Christmas.

5. Remembering the poor.

6. Christmas dinner at an inn. (Make it a reverie. Imagine the person to be old and alone. Picture others who have dropped in for dinner, and tell what he does for them.)

CHRISTMAS EVE

Use the following topics as suggestions for oral or written work: 1. Christmas Eve in the country and in town.

2. Christmas Eve in your own home. (The family gathering; the pastimes.)

3. Welcoming a stranger on Christmas Eve.

4. A welcome guest. (Master Simon.)

CHRISTMAS DAY

Use the following topics as suggestions for oral or written work: 1. The squire on Christmas Day.

2. Keeping open house on Christmas Day.

3. Dancing a jig.

THE CHRISTMAS DINNER

Prepare your summary of Irving's character as you have seen it in reading the Sketches. Have you enjoyed reading the Sketches ? Why? What have you learned from the Sketches ?

Select a subject for discussion or written work suggested by the following topics:

1. The character of Irving. (Based on the reading of the Sketches.) 2. What I like (dislike) in Irving.

3. The use (uselessness) of such literature.

4. The influence (good or bad) of the daily press.

5. The influence (good or bad) of writers of fiction.

6. The kind of schoolbook that I like (dislike).

SOME QUESTIONS SET BY THE COLLEGE

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD

1. What interest and value do you find in essays or biographies? Defend or attack one of these kinds of writing in one or more wellconstructed paragraphs, referring to essays or biographies not already mentioned in this paper.

2. Write an appreciation of some modern author whose work you have read in school.

3. Write a composition of not less than four hundred words on The Sketch Book as a record of the customs and background of another age or place.

4. Identify at least six of the following characters by telling in what work each occurs, and characterize each in a few words: Ichabod Crane

5. a. Select two of the following literary types: drama, lyric, novel, allegory, essay.

b. Comment fully upon the distinguishing features of these two types.

6. Select an American author of note and tell what his special contribution was to American literature.

7. From some essay that you have read, reproduce in your own words a description of an interesting character, custom, or place.

8. In what way does an oration differ from an essay? Illustrate your answer by specific examples.

9. Punctuate, capitalize, and otherwise correct on the supplementary sheet the passage there reprinted from Washington Irving's Christmas Day.

10. Make a list of not more than thirty books that you have read and consider to be good literature. Include, if possible, a variety of types of literature, such as plays, essays, novels, long poems, or collections of poetry, short stories. State four or five important

ideas that you have gained from this reading. From what book was each derived?

What customs of life strikingly different from those familiar to you in your own place and time did you encounter in these books? II. Some books add primarily to your information; other books primarily give you pleasure, set you thinking, or stir your imagination. Choose from your reading of good literature twenty books. Arrange them in two lists. Place in one, books that belong to the first class; in the other, books that belong to the second class. Selecting three of the titles which you have placed in the second list, explain fully why you have so classified them.

12. Write brief explanatory notes, of not more than a few sentences each, for ten of the following fifteen names: . . . Sleepy Hollow

13. There are books that you like and books that you do not like. Choose from your reading of good literature twenty books. Arrange them in two lists. Place in one, books that belong to the first class; in the other, books that belong to the second class. Selecting two or three titles in each list, explain fully why you have so classified them. 14. Name the authors of any five of the following [twenty-six] books and tell in three or four sentences what you know about each of these five books. . . . The Sketch Book . . .

15. Name some well-known writer, English or American, whose reputation seems to you much higher (or lower) than it deserves to be. Explain fully.

16. Write in several paragraphs a composition of about four hundred words upon one of the following subjects. Choose such aspects of the subject as you can well discuss according to an orderly, consecutive plan, in which each paragraph shall be one stage. "What I read when I have my own way"

...

17. State very briefly what you remember most clearly and vividly from each of six books that you have read. So far as you can, give in two instances the reasons for your vivid impressions.

18. Write in several paragraphs a composition of about four hundred words upon one of the following [fifteen] subjects. Choose such aspects of the subject as you can well discuss according to an orderly, consecutive plan, in which each paragraph shall be one stage. "The connection between the life of some author and his work"