Little Miss Muffet.

From Little Bo-Peep:



Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating curds and why;
There came a big spider,
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss
Muffet away.

The Lion Hunting With Other Beasts

From The Fables of Æsop:

A Lion, a Heifer, a Goat, and a Sheep once agreed to share whatever each might catch in hunting. A fine fat stag fell into a snare set by the Goat, who thereupon called the rest together. The Lion divided the stag into four parts. Taking the best piece for himself, he said: "This is mine, of course, as I am the Lion;" taking another portion, he added, "This too is mine by right - the right, if you must know, of the strongest." Further, putting aside the third piece, "That's for the most valiant," said he; "and as for the remaining part, touch it if you dare."

Admit for Confess

From Write it Right:

Admit for Confess: To admit is to concede something affirmed. An unaccused offender cannot admit his guilt.

The Cock and the Jewel

From The Fables of Æesop:



A brisk young Cock, scratching for something with which to entertain his favorite hens, happened to turn up a jewel. Feeling quite sure that it was something precious, but not knowing well what to do with it, he addressed it with an air of affected wisdom as follows: "You are a very fine thing, no doubt, but you are not at all to my taste. For my part, I would rather have one grain of dear, delicious barley than all the jewels in the world."

Little Bo-Peep

From Little Bo-Peep:

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And cannot tell where to find them; -
Leave them alone, and they'll come home
And bring their tails behind them.

Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke she found it a joke,
For still they were all fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for the find them; -
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left their tails behind them.

The Oneirocriticon of Astrampsychus cont.

From The Complete Dream Book:

THE ONEIROCRITICON OF ASTRAMPSYCHUS
cont.

To have broad feet is a sign of misfortune.
The amputation of the feet is a bar to a contemplated journey
The burning of the body indicates a very evil reputation.
Gladness of mind shows that you will live abroad.
For a blind man to see is the best omen possible.
To wear a white robe is an excellent omen.
To wear a black one is a mournful spectacle.
To wear a purple robe thratens a long disease.
To wear a red one promises an honourable action.
To wear the pall of kings is the solution to our expectations.
The tearing of a garment is relief from the burden of anxieties.
A severed girdle speedily cuts short a journey.
To behold the stars forebodes much good to men.
Thunder-peals in dreams are the words of messengers.
To see lights indicates guidance in affairs.
The sight of withered trees declares the uselessness of labours.
Pearls denote a torrent of tears.
Milk confounds the politics of enemies.
Milk is the sign of peaceful circumstances.

Admit for Confess

From Write it Right:

Admission for Admittance. "The price of admission is one dollar."

Admission for Admittance

From Write it Right:

"The price of admission is one dollar."

Ancient Interpretations of Dreams / The Oneirocriticon of Astrampsychus (pt. 1)

From The Complete Dream Book:

Over a period of one thousand years or more there have been interpretations of dreams that people have had. On these interpretations have been built the dream books of today. Changes in modes of living and advances in science have occurred that have made considerable differences in the manner of interpreting dreams, but many of the solutions of sleeping thoughts have remained the same.

Following are some of the interpretations that have come down through the ages.

THE ONEIROCRITICON OF ASTRAMPSYCHUS

"To talk in dreams is a sign of their truth.
To move slowly denotes unfortunate journeys.
It is good to fly, for it is the sign of an honorable deed.
Laughter in sleep presages difficult circumstances.
To weep in sleep is a sign of the utmost joy.
To eat with enemies indicates a reconciliation.
To be dead in dreams announces freedom from anxiety.
An offensive odour signifies annoyance.
If anyone offer incense to you, it portends affliction.
If you seem to be an old man, you will attain to honour.
To run in dreams shows the stability of your circumstances.
To wash the hands denotes the release from anxieties.
To clean the feet denotes the release from anxieties.
To clean the body denotes the release from anxieties.
To cut the hair signifies losses in business.
To lose the hair heralds great danger.
To see white meats is exceedingly advantageous.
To see black meats forebodes evil to one's children.
To embrace your mother is to have a lucky dream.
To embrace one's best beloved is very fortunate.
All embraces bring about protracted labours.
To kiss or to love excites the long-continued opposition of one's enemies.

(to be cont.)

Action for Act

From Write it Right.

Action for Act. "In wrestling, a blow is a reprehensible action." A blow is not an action but an act. An action may consist of many acts.

The Clouds

From The New Barnes Reader:



White sheep, white sheep,
On a blue hill,
When the wind stops
You all stand still.

You walk far away,
When the wind blow;
White sheep, white sheep,
Where do you go?

OLD RHYME

A for An

From Write it Right:

A for An. "A hotel." "A heroic man." Before an unaccented aspirate use an. The contrary usage in this country comes of too strongly stressing our aspirations.

The Two Frogs

From The Fables of Æsop:

One hot summer, the lake in which two Frogs lived was completely dried up, and they were obliged to set off in search of water elsewhere. Coming to a deep and deliciously cool well, one of the Frogs proposed that they should jump in at once. "Wait a bit," cried the other; "if that should dry up, how could we get out again?"

Aims and the Plan

from Write It Right

The author's main purpose in this book is to teach precision in writing; and of good writing (which, essentially, is clear thinking made visable) precision is the point of capital concern. It is attained by choice of the word that accurately and adequately expresses what the writer has in mind, and by exclusion of that which either denotes or connotes something else. As Quintilian puts it, the writer should so write that his reader not only may, but must, understand.

Few words have more than one literal and servicable meaning, however many metaphorical, derivative, related, or even unrelated, meanings lexicographers may think it worth while to gather from all sorts and conditions of men, with which to bloat their absurd and misleading dictionaries. This actual and servicable meaning - not always determined by derivation, and seldom by popular usage - is the one affirmed, according to his light, by the author of this little manual of solecisms. Narrow etymons of the mere scholar and loose locutions of the ignorant are alike denied a standing.

The plan of the book is more illustrative than expository, the aim being to use the terms of etymology and syntax as little as is compatible with clarity, familiar example being more easily apprehended than technical precept. When both are employed the precept is commonly given after the example has prepared the student to apply it, not only to the matter in mind, but to similar matters not mentioned. Everything in quotation marks is to be understood as disapproved.

Not all locutions blacklisted herein are always to be reprobated as universal outlaws. Excepting in the case of capital offenders - expressions ancestrally vulgar or irreclaimably degenerate - absolute proscription is possible as to serious composition only; in other forms the writer must rely on his sense of values and the fitness of things. While it is true that some colloquialisms and, with less of licesnse, even some slang, may be sparingly employed in light literature, for point, piquancy or any of the purposes of the skilled writer sensible to the necessity and charm of keeping at least one foot on the ground, to others the virtue of restraint may be commended as distinctly superior to the joy of indulgence.

Precision is much, but not all; some words and phrases are disallowed on the ground of taste. As there are neither standards nor arbiters of taste, the book can do little more than reflect that of its author, who is far indeed from professing impeccability. In neither taste nor precision is any man's practice a court of last appeal, for writers all, both great and small, are habitual sinners against the light; and their accuser is cheerfully aware that his own work will supply (as in making this book it has supplied) many "awful examples" - his later work less abundantly, he hopes, than his earlier. He nevertheless believes that this does not disqualify him for showing by other instances than his own how not to write. The infallible teacher is still in the forest primeval, throwing seeds to the white blackbirds.

A.B.

The Wolf and the Goat

from the New Barnes Readers Book One



Wolf - I am very hungry. I would like a fat goat to eat. There is one on that high rock. How can I get her? I will go and talk to her.

Good morning, Mrs. Goat.

Goat - Good morning, Mr. Wolf.

Wolf - See the fine grass down here. Come and eat with me, Mrs. Goat.

Goat - Thank you, Mr. Wolf. You like to eat goats as well as grass. I will stay up here. Run along, Mr. Wolf.

Wolf - Look out, Mrs. Goat! Some day I will get you.