Volume I, page 264. _The Twin Brothers._ Volume I, page 395. _Something._ Volume II, page 124. _The Snow Queen._ Volume IV, page 174. _Incident of the French Camp._ Volume VIII, page 364. _The Tempest._ Volume IX, page 232. _The Gold-Bug._ B. THE PERSONS In most stories, be they brief and simple or as long and complicated as the two-volume novel, the interest centers in one or more persons whose character the reader learns to understand, and whose success or failure, joy or grief gives him pleasure or excites his sympathy. All events center about the hero or heroes, and while other persons may be mentioned, and even win the reader's attention for a time, they finally subside into the background and are remembered only as they contribute to greater interest in the principal characters. Every author tries to make his heroes and heroines speak and act like real human beings and show their characters by their actions and their words. Sometimes, however, he tells the reader just how his people look, feel and think, and describes their characters to give an interest in what happens to them. A more interesting method and a more artistic one is to leave the persons to disclose themselves as the story progresses, making them show by the way they act and by what they say under certain circumstances the strong and weak qualities in their natures. Nothing is more interesting than to watch the development of character in the hero of a story, particularly when it is accomplished under conditions which are themselves interesting. In studying the persons in a story, then, the chief things to keep in mind are the following: 1. The principal person, or hero--the one, or perhaps the ones, in whose fortunes the reader is most vitally interested. 2. The secondary persons who are introduced merely to add variety or to throw light upon the character of the hero, or to assist to bring about the events which center about him. 3. The appearance, dress and manners of the persons. 4. The ways in which the author makes his persons lifelike and shows the reader what they really are. 5. The characters of the persons as they appear or as they are developed in the progress of the story. This is the really important part of the study, the one which becomes increasingly interesting as readers grow older and the stories they study become more and more complex and difficult. The study of the characters of Shakespeare's heroes and heroines is more than interesting pastime for men and women--it is good, hard work. For a simple example of what is meant, let us undertake briefly the study of _The Hardy Tin Soldier_ (Volume I, page 148). 1. The hero is the Hardy Tin Soldier himself. 2. Persons of secondary importance are: a. The twenty-four brothers. b. The little boy. c. The Dancing Lady. d. The Goblin. e. The servant-maid. f. The two street boys. g. The Water Rat. h. The fish. i. The cook.