or
idle fashion. He _rambles_ if he wanders about, with no definite aim
or toward no definite goal. He _meanders_ if he proceeds slowly and
perhaps listlessly in an ever-changing course, as if he were following the
windings of the crooked Phrygian river, Meander. He _promenades_ if
he walks in a public place, as for pleasure or display. He _prowls_
if he moves about softly and stealthily, as in search of prey or booty. He
_hobbles_ if he jerks along unevenly, as from a stiff or crippled
condition of body. He _limps_ if he walks lamely. He
_perambulates_ when he walks through, perhaps for observation or
inspection. _(Perambulates is_ of course a learned word.)

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <sneak, shamble, amble,
wander, stamp, slouch, gad, gallivant, glide, hike>.

_Sentences_: They ____ down the lane in the moonlight. Rip Van
Winkle loved to ____ about the mountains. "The plowman homeward ____ his
weary way." The old man ____ down the street with his cane. The excavators
____ about the ruins in search of relics. He ____ about the room, almost
bursting with importance. The nervous man ____ up and down the station
platform. They ____ along the beach at the sea resort. The baby learned to
____ when it was eleven months old. The two of them ____ about the field
all day hunting rabbits. A ghost, so they tell me, ____ about the
haunted house at midnight. He carefully ____ the plank that spans the
abyss. The baby ____ toward us with outstretched arms. The Chinaman ____
out of the back room of the laundry in his carpet slippers. They caught
glimpses of gaunt wolves ____ about their campfire. He was terrified when
the giant ____ into the room. The fat lady ____ down the aisle of the
street car. The sick man will ____ a few steps each day until he is
stronger. A turkey cock ____ about the barnyard. A boy with a rag tied
around his toe ____ painfully down the street. They reported to the police
that a man had been ____ about the place. She held her skirts daintily and
____ along as if she were walking on eggs. The lovers ____ along the banks
of the stream. He ____ through the hall like a conqueror. The children
wore themselves out by ____ through the snow to school. We ____ through
the meadows, often stooping to pick flowers as we went. The soldiers ____
into camp at nightfall.

<Laugh, giggle, snicker, titter, chuckle, guffaw, cachinnate.>

What differences in human nature, conditions, and disposition are reve