K. Make up a story that will account for the sadness of Antonio in the opening scene of the Merchant of Venice. Let Antonio relate the story to Bassanio.

L. Retell the story of the tournament in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. Throw the narrative into the form of a letter from Rowena to one of her friends.

M. Write the story suggested by Détaille's L’Alerte (Figure 4, page 220). Perhaps the following outline will be helpful: (1) The scout receives orders from the general; (2) he sets out on his perilous mission; (3) he discovers the enemy and is himself discovered; (4) the pursuit; (5) the scout's trick; (6) the alarm in the village; (7) the fight; (8) the scout reports at headquarters. Study the picture carefully for the time of day, the season of the year, and the state of the weather. Imagine the conversation

between the scout and the officers at the door of the tavern. Think how a man would speak who had been riding for his life and knew that a body of the enemy was following close upon his heels. Think also what the officers would say and do when they heard the news. If you are not sure about the words in which the scout would make his report and the orders that the officers would give, you had better inquire of some one. Anybody who was in the Civil War, or the Spanish War, should be able to tell you.

N. Expand the anecdote by Thackeray on page 2. Begin your story, if you wish, at a point of time several months or years before the time of the original, and carry it on as much farther as you think desirable. Invent names for the characters and supply incidents necessary to fill out the plot.

0. Tell the story suggested by Becker's Reading of the Will (Figure 7, page 288), giving appropriate names to the persons represented. Determine first which shall be the leading character and what characters shall be opposed to him. Then block out the incidents of the narrative.

P. Figure 9 is from a picture by Dagnan-Bouveret entitled The Conscripts. Examine the faces carefully and try to imagine how each one in the little company feels, and what each one

is saying to himself as he thinks of the experiences that await him. Then try to weave them all together into a story of which the boy or the drummer is the hero. Do not overlook the woman standing at the door of the cottage.