A. One day Mr. Wind and Mr. Sun got to talking. Each one thought he was stronger than the other. They saw a man walking along the road. He had a big overcoat on and Mr. Wind said that he-- Q. Tell us exactly what Mr. Wind said. A. Mr. Wind said, "I am stronger than you are. I can make that man take off his coat. You can't!" Q. That is a fine start. Tell us what the Sun said. A. The Sun said that he-- Q. "That he?" A. The Sun said, "I can make him take off his coat, and I can do it quicker than you can." Q. Good. Go on. A. So they tried. Mr. Wind began. He blew as hard as he could and whistled around the man. He blew as fiercely as a lion tears his prey, but the man wouldn't take off his coat. Q. What would the man do to his coat? A. I think he'd hold on to it, button it up, draw it close around him. Q. Good. Very good. Now tell the story as well as you can. A. Begin at the beginning? Q. Yes. A. One day Mr. Wind and Mr. Sun got into a quarrel about who was the strongest. While they were at it, a man in a heavy overcoat came walking along the road. When Mr. Wind saw the man he said, "Now see that man down there. I can make him take off his coat, but you can't." Mr. Sun replied, "I don't believe you can do it, but I can, though," then Mr. Wind said, "Well, I'll show you, you conceited thing!" So the Wind blew and blew, fierce and loud like a lion attacking his prey, but the man wouldn't take off his coat. He drew it around him and buttoned it up and hung on to it. Q. I like your story. But how many people were talking? A. Two. Q. Did you mean to say "_strongest_"? A. Stronger. It is not necessary to continue this farther, for enough has been written to show how a story may be developed and improved with each retelling. The same style of work, perhaps to even better advantage, may be done from the pictures so numerous in _Journeys Through Bookland_. In this volume, under the title _Pictures and Their Use_, will be found plentiful suggestions that will be helpful in conversation lessons. 2. Written Lessons A. Introduction. The demands of written composition are so much more severe than those of oral composition that we must be careful not to ask more than the child can execute with comparative ease. Before he begins to write, he should have clear ideas of what he intends to write and should have those ideas so arranged that they will not be confused in the process of writing. Moreover, a child must become quite familiar with writing as an art before he can be expected to originate ideas or forms of expression for the purpose of writing them. It follows, then, that some of the early written work in language may profitably consist of copying selections of various kinds.