arrival?  What light is thrown on the old lady’s character by Isaac’s words beginning, “Disappointments don’t appear to trouble her”?  Are the men very anxious to “give the boys a treat”?  Why does the old lady call Mr. York “dear”?  What is meant by the last five lines of Part III?  What sort of dog is Tiger?  What is meant by “soon as the coon trees”?  How does the author tell you of old Rover’s defects?  What person would you like to have shoot the coon at last?  Why could Isaac Brown not “trust himself to speak”?  Do you think old Rover “overheard them talking,” as John Henry suggests?  How does the author let you into the secret of Tiger’s behavior?  Why does Isaac not tell the old lady which dog treed the coon?  What does he mean by saying that Tiger is “a clever dog round the house”?  Do you think that Mrs. Price succeeded in getting fifty dollars for the dog?  Why does the author not tell whether she does or not?  Try to put into your own words a summing up of the old lady’s character.  Tell what you think of the two old men.  Do you like the use of dialect in this story?  Would it have been better if the people had all spoken good English?  Why, or why not?

THEME SUBJECTS

Hunting for Squirrels
An Intelligent Dog
A Night in the Woods
An Old Man
Tracking Rabbits
Borrowers
The Circus
Old Lady Price
A Group of Odd Characters
Raccoons
Opossums
The Tree-dwellers
Around the Fire
How to Make a Camp Fire
The Picnic Lunch
An Interesting Old Lady

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING

Try to write a theme in which uneducated people talk as they do in real life; as far as possible, fit every person’s speech to his character.  Below are given some suggestions for this work: 

Mrs. Wicks borrows Mrs. Hall’s flat-irons. 
Two or three country children quarrel over a hen’s nest. 
The family get ready to go to the Sunday School picnic. 
Sammie tells his parents that he has been whipped at school. 
Two old men talk about the crops. 
One of the pigs gets out of the pen. 
Two boys go hunting. 
The farmer has just come back from town. 
Mrs. Robbins describes the moving-picture show.

=An Intelligent Dog=:—­Tell who owns the dog, and how much you have had opportunity to observe him.  Describe him as vividly as possible.  Give some incidents that show his intelligence.

Perhaps you can make a story out of this, giving the largest amount of space to an event in which the dog accomplished some notable thing, as protecting property, bringing help in time of danger, or saving his master’s life.  In this case, try to tell some of the story by means of conversation, as Miss Jewett does.

=An Interesting Old Lady=:—­Tell where you saw the old lady; or, if you know her well, explain the nature of your acquaintance with her.  Describe her rather fully, telling how she looks and what she wears.  How does she walk and talk?  What is her chief occupation?  If possible, quote some of her remarks in her own words.  Tell some incidents in which she figures.  Try to bring out her most interesting qualities, so that the reader can see them for himself.