3.  They met few people abroad, even on passing from the retired neighborhood of the House of the Seven Gables into what was ordinarily the more thronged and busier portion of the town.  Glistening sidewalks, with little pools of rain, here and there, along their unequal surface; umbrellas displayed ostentatiously in the shop windows, as if the life of trade had concentered itself in that one article; wet leaves of the horse-chestnut or elm trees, torn off untimely by the blast, and scattered along the public way; an unsightly accumulation of mud in the middle of the street, which perversely grew the more unclean for its long and laborious washing;—­these were the more definable points of a very somber picture.  In the way of movement, and human life, there was the hasty rattle of a cab or coach, its driver protected by a water-proof cap over his head and shoulders; the forlorn figure of an old man, who seemed to have crept out of some subterranean sewer, and was stooping along the kennel, and poking the wet rubbish with a stick, in quest of rusty nails; a merchant or two, at the door of the post office, together with an editor, and a miscellaneous politician, awaiting a dilatory mail; a few visages of retired sea captains at the window of an insurance office, looking out vacantly at the vacant street, blaspheming at the weather, and fretting at the dearth as well of public news as local gossip.  What a treasure trove to these venerable quidnuncs, could they have guessed the secret which Hepzibah and Clifford were carrying along with them!

—­Hawthorne:  The House of the Seven Gables.

+Theme LVI.+—­Write a description of one of the following:—­

1.  A steamboat. 2.  An orchard. 3.  A colonial mansion. 4.  A wharf. 5.  A stone quarry. 6.  A shop.

(Consider what you have written with reference to the point of view, fundamental image, and essential details.  After these have been arranged to suit you, notice the way in which the minor details have been introduced.  Have you given undue prominence to any?  Can a single adjective or phrase be substituted for a whole sentence?  Think of the image which your words will produce in the mind of the reader.  Consider your theme with reference to unity.  Section 81.)

+129.  Arrangement of Details.+—­The quality of a description depends as much upon the arrangement of the material as upon the selection.  Under paragraph development we have discussed the necessity of arranging the details with reference to their natural position in space (see Sections 47 and 86).  Such an arrangement is the most desirable one and should be departed from only with good reason.  Such departures may, however, be made, as shown in the following selection:—­