vassal, whether duke, earl, or lord, or whatever he was, was obliged to come with a certain number of men to assist the sovereign, when he was engaged in war; and in time of peace, he was bound to attend on his court when summoned, and do homage to him, that is, acknowledge that he was his master and liege lord.  In like manner, the vassals of the crown, as they were called, divided the lands which the king had given them into estates, which they bestowed on knights, and gentlemen, whom they thought fitted to follow them in war, and to attend them in peace; for they, too, held courts, and administered justice, each in his own province.  Then the knights and gentlemen, who had these estates from the great nobles, distributed the property among an inferior class of proprietors, some of whom cultivated the land themselves, and others by means of husbandmen and peasants, who were treated as a sort of slaves, being bought and sold like brute beasts, along with the farms which they labored.

Thus, when a great king, like that of France or England, went to war, he summoned all his crown vassals to attend him, with the number of armed men corresponding to his fief, as it was called, that is, territory which had been granted to each of them.  The prince, duke, or earl, in order to obey the summons, called upon all the gentlemen to whom he had given estates, to attend his standard with their followers in arms.  The gentlemen, in their turn, called on the franklins, a lower order of gentry, and upon the peasants; and thus the whole force of the kingdom was assembled in one array.  This system of holding lands for military service, that is, for fighting for the sovereign when called upon, was called the feudal system.  It was general throughout all Europe for a great many ages.

—­Scott:  Tales of a Grandfather.

+Theme LXXXV.+—­Write a theme on one of the following:—­

1.  Tell your younger brother how to make a whistle.

2.  Explain some game to a friend of your own age.

3.  Give an explanation of the heating system of your school to a member of the school board of an adjoining city.

4.  Explain to a city girl how butter is made.

5.  Explain to a city boy how hay is cured.

6.  Explain to a friend how to run an automobile.

(Consider the selection of facts as determined by the person addressed.)

+156.  Arrangement—­Coherence.+—­Some expositions are of such a nature that there is but little question concerning the proper arrangement of the topics composing them.  In order to be coherent, all we do is to follow the natural order of occurrence in time and place.  This is especially true of general narrations and of some general descriptions.  In explaining the circulation of the blood, for instance, it is most natural for us to follow the course which the blood takes in circulating through the body.  In explaining the manufacture of articles we naturally begin with the material as it comes to the factory, and trace the process of manufacture in order through its successive stages.