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That happy union of frankness and reserve which is to be desired. . . . The stone in which nothing is seen, and the polished metal which reflects all things, are both alike hard and insensible. [Make first sentence into a topic sentence repeat in more defining terms - draw consequences in chardraw contrast, and apply to character above figure by way of illustration.]

acter

end with

I explained this to the
Witnesses were called

I struck the man in self-defence. magistrate. He would not believe me. to support my statements. He committed me to prison. He had the right to do this. It is a right that is rarely exercised in such circumstances. I remonstrated. [Supply proper connectives.]

It has been said that you can judge a man's character by noting what amuses him. Remark illustrated by the oldfashioned country "horning." That was held in lieu of the modern reception. When the young couple returned from their honeymoon. The bride's house surrounded by neighbors. Guns, horns, and all sorts of uncouth racket till a late hour. Invited in later to a repast. This is what amused our forefathers. Sometimes bride and groom would try to keep their home-coming secret. Once bride's father and groom's father lived not very far apart. Bride's scapegrace brother directed the horning-party wrong. an empty house. Bride and groom escaped. two paragraphs.]

They serenaded [Work out into

Humor and pathos, it is said, are twins and inseparable. [Explain topical matter by showing what humor and pathos respectively deal with. Then prove predicative matter by pointing out how and why they are so closely connected.]

At length Bunyan began to write; [...] it was some time before he discovered where his strength lay, his writings were not unsuccessful. They were coarse, [...] they showed a keen mother-wit, a great command of the homely mother tongue, an intimate knowledge of the English Bible,

and a vast and dearly bought spiritual experience. They [...] the corrector of the press had improved the syntax and the spelling, were well received by the humbler class of Dissenters. [Supply connectives where the blanks are indicated.]

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt. [Expand the two parts of predicative matter-grace, saltby defining what is meant, and giving illustrations of what speech would be without the one or the other.]

The sonnet, since its introduction into English literature in the time of Queen Elizabeth, has been a favorite form of verse for the utterance of brief thoughts and sentiments, and for the enshrining of delicate moods of reflection. [Expand topical part by describing the sonnet.]

2. Treat the following subjects:

A day's excursion — bicycling, boating, fishing, or picnic dividing the account into stages suitable for paragraphs, and noting the topic of each.

Early recollections; giving a paragraph each to your early home, playmates, striking incidents, and first school.

Three paragraphs on a boy's (or girl's) use of tools: the interest, the usefulness, the result.

A visit to some noted place, or building, or machinery, or factory that has interested you. Think out the stages of your visit, and give the reason for each paragraph.

BE

CHAPTER VI.

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

EYOND the grouping of sentences together to form paragraphs there is the larger grouping of paragraphs to build up the whole composition. This is governed by exactly the same principles of unity and organism that we have already traced; only the broadening of their application, and the requirements of different kinds of subjectmatter make it necessary to pass them in review again.

As

We will suppose, then, that we have in hand a line of thought or a series of facts that we wish to convey. first presented to our mind it will be vague; our chief business therefore is to clear it up by thinking what it means as a whole, and what are the parts that contribute to the whole; that is, we must make our plan. But inhering with the question of plan is the question of effect and of subject-matter: what kind of plan and organism we can make in order best to set forth the material we have to work with; this makes important the different processes of composition. The following, then, are the two main divisions into which the present chapter falls:

1. Requisites of Composition.

2. Processes of Composition.

In this final chapter we have reached the point where every detail of composition has to be kept constantly ready for use. Plan, theme, and process, as we shall see, underlie and determine the whole; but woven throughout the whole, inseparable from any part, are choice of words,

What is

phraseology, sentence structure, and the rest. first to be learned is most constantly to be applied.

I. REQUISITES OF COMPOSITION.

It is strongly advisable, perhaps we may better say necessary, to draw up a careful plan of what you are going to write. Put it in tabular form, expressing each thought as concisely and accurately as you can, determining the divisions and subdivisions by different styles of numbering. It is very hard to make a coherent and selfconsistent line of thought without planning it in this way. Even if a writer gets by experience the ability to make and follow a plan mentally, he must ordinarily have acquired that ability by planning much on paper.

I.

Rules for determining Whole and Parts.-The following are the rules to be mentally observed as underlying in some form the composition of any and every kind of discourse. How they are to be modified in the individual case is a problem that no one but the writer himself can solve.

100. Make your composition centre in one theme.

As the sentence builds up the expression of one idea, and as the paragraph constitutes the development of one topic, so the whole composition, however long or complicated, is concerned with a single theme. The word theme is the Greek word éua, something placed, or laid down, and may be defined as the working-idea of the dis

course.

This theme is laid down first of all for the writer himself to work to; and whether expressed in the completed

work or not is necessary to steady the writer's thought and keep out what is irrelevant. In the finished product it may either be expressed, as in an essay or argument, or diffused, as in a description or narrative; but in any case when we come to recall the whole its effect should be reducible to a single idea or purpose governing the composition of every part.

It is in the choosing of and working to a theme, therefore, that we secure that main determining quality of all good composition, unity.

As the theme may take different forms, so it may have different objects; indeed the object has much to do in determining the form.

1. It may be a theme to know or remember, as when the writer is seeking to impart a fact or principle or truth; this kind of theme is generally best expressed in the form of a proposition to be proved.

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ILLUSTRATIONS. If, for instance, you are thinking of any subject, your first step will be to put in a sentence what you believe of that subject; this is determining the theme. Let the subject be Honesty ; then your theme may be some such assertion as, Honesty is the best policy," or, "Honesty is the basis of all business dealings,” for one subject may suggest many themes. Let it be Daniel Webster; then you will think out some truth about him, as for instance, “Daniel Webster was the champion of the Constitution," and all your work will be directed to showing how this is true.

2. It may be a theme to feel or realize, as when the writer is seeking to impress the beauty of a scene, or to make his reader enter into the grandeur or pathos or fun of an event. This kind of theme is more naturally thought of as a title or heading, and instead of being expressed somewhere in the composition is generally diffused as an influence through the whole.

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