Fifth paragraph — the geographical or social background.

222. Summary of the Background. Under the term background we may include two things : the scenery, or place-descriptions, in a book,— descrip¬tions of either interior or out-of-door scenes ; or we may mean the social background, the general mode of life or customs of the community in which the scene of the story is laid. The following model combines both of these kinds of background, the geographical and the social :

MODEL

"Descriptions are most effective when they reproduce a real atmosphere, full of local color, local traits, and indi¬vidual details. In Silas 'Warner there are faithful pic¬tures of Lantern Yard, Raveloe, the ale-room at the Rainbow, the halls of the Cass House, the Stonepits, and the cottage of Silas Marner. In these the acts of the little drama take place. Social and provincial touches are seen in the village superstitions, the mys¬terious regard for Marner because of his supposedly unnatural powers over disease, the discussion concern¬ing ghosts, the petty rivalries of the village despots, all of which localize and individualize the place. In hold¬ing us close to fact, the author gives a true portraiture of a provincial English county in the days before railroads covered the kingdom with a cobweb of iron."

Exercises I. Prove that the above model contains topic and summarizing sentences. Prove that it mentions both the geographical and the social background. Point out the expressions which carry out the thought of the first sentence.