As usual, except that on Friday one number of the program may be a magazine composed of the best stories written during the week by pupils. VI. Oral Composition Be sure that your story has a good point; is free from slang; and possesses a beginning, a middle, and an end. VII. Written Composition _Suggestion_: Imagine that the classroom is the local room of a daily paper, the pupils reporters, and the teacher the editor. The stories may be written in class. VIII. Memorize THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKET The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; That is the Grasshopper's;--he takes the lead In summer luxury;--he has never done With his delights, for when tired out with fun He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. The poetry of earth is ceasing never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, And seems to one in drowsiness half lost The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills. JOHN KEATS. CHAPTER VII THE USE OF CONTRAST "Give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."--ISAIAH. I. Introduction Antithesis, or contrast, is one of the two most effective devices at the disposal of any artist, whether he works with words or colors. Its skillful use often enables a newspaper writer to make a good item out of trifling material. The object of this week's work is to teach a little of the art of using antithesis effectively in reportorial work. II. Models I LONDON, Dec. 25.--Mrs. Rebecca Clarke, who is 109 years of age, presided this morning at the wedding breakfast of her baby son, Harry, who is 67. This is Mr. Clarke's second venture on the matrimonial sea. His two brothers are sprightly bachelors of 70 and 73 years. Mrs. Clarke toasted the newly married couple and ate the first slice of the wedding cake. She attended the Christmas wedding celebration in the evening. II Commuters in Yonkers took advantage of the Christmas holiday to mow their lawns. The grass has been getting longer and longer, owing to the spring weather, until it just had to be cut. Players on the Dunwoodie Country Club course, also at Yonkers, had to keep moving to keep warm yesterday, but they played on greens which had been mowed only a few days ago, and those who were fond of flowers stopped now and then to pick a buttercup.