1879 printing of 1879 copyrighted text. The author is credited with a Bachelor of Arts and as Instructor in the St. Louis Central High School. The text is designed to follow instruction in English grammar and analysis. Preface claims there is a danger in making students too critical, therefore leading them to despise their own powers of expression. The work only includes what has been deemed practical. Uses exercises in oral composition. Chapters include: sentences and their parts, rhetorical forms of sentences, words, diction, style, figurative language, meter, characteristics of poetry, metaphrasing, composition (including narration, description, history, biography), imaginative composition, argumentative composition, letter writing, versification, criticism, correction of compositions, and list of subject for composition. The Schultz Archive copy contains the preface, TOC, and the chapters from the second half of the book covering composition.