Excerpt from Selected Readings: For the Eighth Grade As a boy he played on the historic Common of his native city, and he knew by heart all the traditions clustering about it. As a young man he listened to the conversation of Daniel Webster, of his uncle, the great orator, Edward Everett (for whom he was named), and of other makers of history. As an older man he identified himself with national movements and institutions. He was for many years minister of a large Boston church. For the last six years of his life he was chaplain of the United States Senate. He died in 1909. His writing was always a joy and a recreation to him, and his six rules are the secret of successful composition: (1) Know what you want to say. (2) Say it. (3) Use your own language. (4) Leave out the fine passages. (5) Remember that a short word is better than a long one, and that the fewer words the better. (6) Cut it to pieces. Beyond these simple principles, no man was ever less bound by rules than he. Personally, Dr. Hale was a tall man, with rugged features and a picturesque growth of hair and beard. His voice was heavy and sonorous, often, in moments of indignant protest against some rank injustice, deepening into a roar. Yet so kindly was the gleam in those keen eyes that no one ever hesitated to approach him for help and' counsel, nor did one ever leave him without receiving a word of sympathy and cheer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.