To get to the point of things, Philadelphia had what some of the fans called "one of them afternoons." There is no use trying to describe all the details of this so-called contest, for it is demoralizing to the young to see such things in print. Many criminals have confessed on the scaffold that they got their start watching the Athletics assault some honest young pitcher who was trying to support his aged mother. They say that, if the Macks can get away with their rough work, anything ought to go.

Eight to two was the score to-day, if anybody cares. We can't just figure out where New York got the two, but it was there on the score board and must have happened. Also there is a well-grounded belief that McGraw has subsidized the scoreboard boy so that he cheats the visitors somewhat. But, anyhow, it is reasonably certain that the Mackmen had plenty, while New York was several shy of the total that would have cheered the heart of Gotham, if indeed Gotham has a heart.

Connie Mack and John J. McGraw each had to do some guessing to-day in the matter of picking a pitcher. Lean Connie picked up the right answer and Fat John did not. There's the whole story. The Philadelphia boss shook up the names of his young pitchers in a hat, shut his eyes, and drew out the name of Joe Bush. McGraw, by and with the consent and advice of his entire club, picked Jeff Tesreau. At least it was popularly believed, during and before the game started, that John had given his mound corps a careful slant and chosen Jeff as the best bet. Afterward some of the experts believed that the New York manager, by way of showing a delicate bit of courtesy to a guest, had accorded Connie the privilege of naming New York's gunner. Certainly Tesreau was the best player Philadelphia had and the Athletics were seriously crippled when he retired in the seventh, just after Baker had knocked Doyle's right leg out into the field.

About all that Tesreau had was a fine physique and a mouthful of slippery elm. Almost before the umpires and managers had ceased to chat over the rules, the Macks had lumped three hits, and with a wild heave by Artie Fletcher had scored three runs, which was one more than the Giants got all day. In the next inning some more hammering gave another pair of markers. Then Tesreau settled down and went along fairly well until the seventh. The Athletics had another rush of hits to the outfield in this inning and Otis Crandall came in to finish up the contest, or scandal, whichever you choose to term it. By this time Connie's men were getting hungry for supper, so they made only one tally off Crandall, this coming when Wallie Schang bakered one into the right field stand.

Of course, under such conditions, Joe Bush didn't have a real test. Connie Mack himself, or his crippled batboy, could have pitched the game and won it from the second inning on. Joe just kept slamming them over and, though he had a couple of wild spells that gave the Giants a chance to figure in the game, he always was able to pull himself together before there was any real danger.

Nobody here had heard much about this Joe Bush previous to to-day. Even the experts, who see all things that are and a lot that aren't, didn't have the dope on him. They had heard of Donie Bush and Anheuser Busch and Bush leaguers, but Joseph was a new one. For the information and guidance of those who may be interested, we furnish the data that he came From the Missoula Club of the Union—or is it Onion—Association last fall, and is a right hander.

Bush has the reputation of being almost as speedy as Walter Johnson on his good days and this was one of them. In the early stages of the game he depended almost entirely on his fast ball but later began to unbelt a few curves which had the right sort of a fold to them. Although in a hole with many batters, he passed only four and hit one. Great fielding helped him at times, the Macks pulling off a double play in each of three innings in which New York appeared to have something started.

Any child wonder who can come all the way from Missoula to Broadway in one year and win a world's series game is of course entitled to much credit, but this boy certainly fell into a particularly soft spot. With the Macks' billion dollar infield killing base hits for him and the attack getting him eight runs, he would have had a hard time slipping the game to McGraw if he had sold out before hostilities started. Bush permitted the Giants, who were commonly reported to be moaning for the gore of Mack's youngsters, just five hits. Two of these were bunched in one inning and resulted in one of the runs. The others straggled through.[5]

[5] Reprinted by permission of the author, Mr. G. A. Batchelor, of the Detroit Free Press.

The Score

PHILADELPHIA AB R H TB BB SH SB PO A E

E. Murphy, r.f. 5 1 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 Oldring, l.f. 5 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 Collins, 2b. 5 2 3 5 0 0 1 5 4 0 Baker, 3b. 4 1 2 2 0 0 1 3 1 0 McInnis, 1b. 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 Strunk, c.f. 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Barry, s.s. 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 Schang, c. 4 1 1 4 0 0 0 5 2 1 Bush, p. 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 ——————————————- Total 39 8 12 17 0 0 3 27 11 1

NEW YORK AB R H TB BB SH SB PO A E

Herzog, 3b. 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Doyle, 2b. 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 Fletcher, s.s. 2 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 2 1 Burns, l.f. 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Shafer, c.f. 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 Murray, r.f. 3 1 1 1 1 0 1 4 0 0 McLean, c. 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 Wilson, c. 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Merkle, 1b. 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 Wiltse, 1b. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Tesreau, p. 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crandall, p. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 [A]Cooper 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ——————————————- Total 29 2 5 6 4 0 3 27 6 1

[A] Ran for McLean in fifth.

Philadelphia 3 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0—8 New York 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0—2

Two-base hit—Shafer. Three-base hit—Collins. Home run—Schang. Struck out—by Tesreau, 3; by Crandall, 1; by Bush, 3. Double plays—Collins-Barry; Bush-Barry-McInnis; Doyle (unassisted); Schang-Collins. Time—2:11. Umpires—Rigler at plate, Connolly on bases, Klem and Egan in field.

X. Exercises

1. In this report we have a good example of baseball reporting as a literary art. The writer, Mr. E. A. Batchelor, of the Detroit Free Press, uses metaphor and antithesis with effect. The framework, as is usual in good comic writing, is excellent. Observe it:

1. Four W's—Par. 1. 2. Business Meeting—Par. 2. 3. Refreshments—Pars. 3-12, inclusive. What New York suffered—Par. 3. What Philadelphia did—Par. 4. The Score—Par. 5. The Pitchers—Pars. 6-10. Their Choice—Par. 6. What New York's didn't do—Pars. 7-8. Joe Bush—Pars. 9-12.

2. Use of Metaphor. (a) Analyze the metaphor in "Murder Association." (b) Point out the words in the first three paragraphs that serve to sustain and amplify the comparison. (c) Explain the metaphors that lurk in "rush of hits to the outfield," "bakered," "unbelt," "in a hole," "straggled through."

3. Antithesis. In Par. 3 the first sentence contains a fine contrast, "A good time was had by all, excepting," etc., "all" including fewer persons than there are in the group excepted. It is an old but good trick. In the same paragraph note also the contrast between professionals and amateurs. The rest of the story contains at least a half-dozen antitheses in addition to those already mentioned. Find them.

4. Topics for short expository speeches: Cornelius McGillicuddy; J. Franklin Baker; the Giants; John J. McGraw; The Spelling of the Word "Athletics"; How Baseball is Played; Gotham; Joe Bush; Jeff Tesreau; Doyle; A Mouthful of Slippery Elm; Otis Crandall; Wallie Schang; Donie Bush; Missoula; Curves; Broadway; The Macks' Billion Dollar Infield.

5. Translate: "The fans"; "one of them afternoons"; "if the Macks can get away with their rough work, anything ought to go"; "shy"; "a careful slant"; "his best bet"; "slamming them over"; "pulling off a double play"; "something started"; "slipping the game to McGraw."

6. Subject for Debate: Resolved—that the use of slang should be avoided.

7. Make a study of the art of reporting baseball games, following the hints for football already given, and report a school game. The boys in the class can be relied upon to furnish all of the technical information that will be needed.

XI. Memorize

ENDYMION

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, we are wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon, Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep; and such are daffodils With the green world they live in; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make 'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake, Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms: And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead; All lovely tales that we have heard or read: An endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink. JOHN KEATS.



CHAPTER XI

REPORTING SPEECHES

"Words are like leaves, and where they most abound Much fruit of sense beneath is seldom found." POPE.

I. Assignment

Report a speech, lecture, or sermon in two hundred words.

II. Explanation

It is easy to obtain the material for this assignment because one has only to attend, listen, and take notes. Indeed, in some instances, speakers are ready and willing to furnish reporters with copies of what they intend to say. The part of the task which requires skill is what is known as boiling down, condensing, or reducing the report to the dimensions required by editors. This involves: first and foremost, a determination not to misrepresent in any way what is said; second, the ability to select the essential points; third, an eye for such detail as may be used to spice the report without making it too long. Too many reporters, in their anxiety to make a good story, observe only the last of these requirements, and in consequence are unjust to speakers. In the arrangement of the material, it is well to begin with a statement of the main point of the speech and to follow it with such details as space permits.

III. Speech Construction

Every good speech, however long, has only one main point. Its details serve only to illustrate and enforce this central theme. The reporter needs to bear this in mind. He must discover the central point, or thesis, before he can write a good report. A knowledge of the principles underlying speech construction is therefore of great value to him, even if not essential. Fortunately, these are comparatively simple. Nearly every good speech, from Demosthenes down, has consisted of the following parts in the following order:

1. Exordium, or Introduction. A bridge from the audience to the subject, designed to conciliate and interest.

2. Status, or Plan. An outline of what the speaker intends to say.

3. Statement of Facts. A presentation of the situation on which the orator intends to found his argument.

4. Argument. Here is presented in detail the plan or conclusion which the speaker has in mind, with the reasons in favor of it.

5. Refutation. A reply to objections which have been or may be urged against the plan.

6. Peroration, or Conclusion. This may be a summary of the speech, a good-humored bit of color, a picture of the benefits to be derived from the adoption of the orator's plan, or an impassioned appeal for action.

Sermons and political speeches are usually argumentative and hence of this type. Sometimes, however, an orator and his theme are so well known that he omits all except 3 and 4; occasionally all except 4 disappear. Lectures often contain only 3, as their purpose is only to convey information. Usually, however, a speech without an argument is like a gas engine without gas; it has no "go." The speech that does not aim to get people to do something is usually flat, stale, and unprofitable.

IV. Models

I

LONDON, March 22, 1775.—Conciliation as a means of allaying the present discontent in the American colonies was advocated in the House of Commons to-day by Mr. Edmund Burke. He proposed that Parliament abandon the idea of taxing the colonies, and instead place on the statute book an act acknowledging that the various colonial legislative bodies have the power to grant or refuse aids to the crown. Though his speech, which lasted over three hours, was heard with respect, the measures which he proposed were defeated by a strict party vote, 270 to 78.

Mr. Burke spoke with a dignity and power which have not been surpassed even by the Earl of Chatham. His mastery of the subject was so complete and the form of his speech so perfect that competent judges pronounce it a classic. His speech is to be printed at once as a pamphlet.

In outline Mr. Burke said: "As I have studied this American question for years, have held fixed opinions on it since 1766, and have nothing to gain except disgrace if I suggest a foolish solution of the problem, I believe that you will hear me with patience. My speech will consist of the discussion of two questions: (1) Should we attempt to conciliate the Americans? (2) If so, how? America is already powerful by virtue of population, commerce, and agriculture. The chief characteristic of the American people is their fierce love of freedom. There are only three ways to deal with this spirit: (1) To remove it by removing its causes; (2) to punish it as criminal; (3) to comply with it as necessary. Its causes are irremovable, being the love of independence which caused their ancestors to leave England; their religion in the North, which is the Protestantism of the Protestant religion; the fact that in the South they hold slaves; the general diffusion among them of education; the circumstance that they speak English and that an Englishman is the unfittest man on earth to argue another Englishman into being a slave; and the 3000 miles of ocean, between us and them. It cannot be treated as criminal, there being no way to draw up an indictment against a whole nation. Indeed, you have already tried to do this and failed. There remains no way of treating the American spirit except to comply with it as necessary. I propose, therefore, to erect a Temple of British Concord with six massive pillars by granting to America in six propositions the identical rights which for generations have been by acts of Parliament secured to Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Durham, except that, owing to the distance of America from England, each colony, instead of sending members to Parliament, shall have the power, through its own legislature, to grant or refuse aids to the Crown. If adopted, these measures, I believe, will substitute an immediate and lasting peace for the disorders which Lord North's measures have created. The unbought loyalty of a free people, thus secured, will give us more revenue than any coercive measure. Indeed, it is the only cement that can hold together the British Empire."

II

EDINBURGH, Sept. 20, 1887.—Edmund Burke was the theme of a lecture delivered last night before the Edinburgh Philosophical Society by Mr. Augustine Birrell. "Nobody is fit to govern this country who has not drunk deep at the springs of Burke," said Mr. Birrell, and he backed up this contention with a wealth of wit and argument which delighted and convinced his audience.

The following is a summary of his lecture: "To give a full account of Burke's public life is no part of my plan. I propose merely to sketch his early career, to explain why he never obtained a seat in the cabinet, and to essay an analysis of the essential elements of his greatness. Born in 1729 in Dublin, he grew up with a brother who speculated and a sister of a type who never did any man any serious harm; acquired at school a brogue which death alone could silence; at Trinity College, Dublin, became an omnivorous reader; came in 1750 to London to study law, armed with a cultivated curiosity and no desperate determination to make his fortune; immediately, like the sensible Irishman he was, fell in love with Peg Woffington; for six years rambled everywhere his purse permitted, read everything he could lay his hands on, and talked everlastingly; in 1756 published an 'Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful,' and married Miss Jane Mary Nugent; in 1758 dared at David Garrick's dinner table to contradict Dr. Johnson; in 1765 became a member of Parliament; and for the next sixteen years was the life and soul of the Whig party. When that party, in 1782, finally came into power, Burke's only reward, however, was a minor office, a fact which, in view of his great merits, has amazed posterity. The explanation is that his contemporaries probably knew him, not as a commanding genius, but as an Irishman who was always in debt, whose relatives were rather disreputable, whose judgment was often wrong, and whose temper was violent. His significance for us grows from the fact that he applied the imagination of a poet of the first order to the business of life. He saw organized society steadily and saw it whole. Perceiving that only a thin crust of conventionality protects organized society from the volcanic heats of anarchy, he was afraid of reformers. He could not agree to dispense with the protection afforded by the huge mountains of prejudice and the ancient rivers of custom. He was the High Priest of Order. He loved justice and hated iniquity. The world needs his wisdom to-day."

Mr. Birrell's lecture was full of good phrases. For instance:

1. We have the spectacle of Burke in his old age, like another Laocooen, writhing and wrestling with the French Revolution.

2. Lubricating religious differences with the sweet oil of the domestic affections.

3. Quaint old landladies wonder maternally why he never gets drunk, and generally mistake him for an author until he pays his bill.

4. I love him for letting me warm my hands at it (his wrath at Gerard Hamilton) after a lapse of a hundred and twenty years.

5. His letters to Arthur Young on the subject of carrots still tremble with emotion.

6. This is magnificent, but it is not farming.

V. Queries

1. What part of the task of reporting a speech is easy? Why?

2. Wherein lies its difficulty?

3. What are the three essentials of a good report?

4. What is the commonest fault in reporting speeches?

5. What arrangement of material is suggested?

6. How many main ideas should a speech contain?

7. Name and describe the six parts of a speech.

8. Are any of them ever omitted? When, how, and by whom?

9. Discuss the value of argument in a lecture.

10. Who was Demosthenes?

11. When did the battle of Lexington occur?

12. Discuss the etymology of "Parliament."

13. Explain the subject of each paragraph in Model I.

14. Divide Paragraph 3, Model I, into the six parts of a complete speech.

15. What are the important places in a sentence? Did the writer of these models recognize this fact?

16. Find a metaphor in Model I. An alliteration. An antithesis.

17. Point out the Four W's, and discuss the sentence structure.

18. What is the subject of each paragraph in Model II?

19. Write a note of fifty words on Augustine Birrell.

20. Explain the nature and location of Ireland, Wales, Chester, Durham, Dublin, Edinburgh, London.

21. Who were David Garrick and Dr. Johnson?

22. Why did Burke stand no higher with his contemporaries?

23. Explain the nature of Burke's importance to the world to-day.

24. Have the British adopted his principles in the management of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa?

25. Explain the figure of speech in each quotation in the last paragraph of Model II.

26. Find in Paragraph 2 of Model II a metaphor and an antithesis.

27. How many of the six parts of a speech can you find in Lincoln's Gettysburg speech?

VI. Composition

Hear and report a speech. If this appears to be undesirable or impossible, the teacher may read one to the class. The following are suggested:

1. Macaulay's Speech on Education. 2. One of the lectures in Thackeray's English Humorists or Four Georges. 3. Phillips's Toussaint L'Ouverture. 4. Webster's Bunker Hill Speeches. 5. Lincoln's Peoria Speech against Douglas. 6. One of Birrell's Obiter Dicta Lectures.

Others equally good will probably suggest themselves.

VII. Suggested Time Schedule[6]

Week I Week II

Monday—I, II, III. V, 15-27. Tuesday—IV, 1. Oral Composition. Wednesday—IV, 2. Oral Composition. Thursday—V, 1-14. Written Composition. Friday—Speaking. Speaking.

[6] SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS:

1. Inspect notebooks frequently.

2. Do not forget home-reading.

3. Be careful to assign a definite task each day.

4. Do not forget the minutes of the previous meeting.

5. Call on everybody every day, even if it is only to recite one line of a poem.

6. Don't do the reciting yourself. Give the class a chance. Make them assume responsibility. Require them to rewrite themes until they are perfect in technique, but do not bother too much to point out their errors. Let the pupils discover them.

7. Chapters V, VI, and XII of Book I should be reviewed at frequent intervals until their contents become as familiar as the alphabet. This result can be obtained only by time and persistency. Before it is reached, the average pupil will have learned and forgotten over and over again the material involved. These chapters may sometimes be reviewed as wholes, but it is also well to take a small section of each daily.

VIII. Memorize

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen; Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved and forever grew still!

* * * * *

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentiles, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord. LORD BYRON.



CHAPTER XII

DRAMATIC NOTICES

"To hold the mirror up to Nature." SHAKESPEARE.

I. Assignment

Write a notice of one of the plays now on the local stage.

II. Explanation

To keep its readers informed of the character of the plays being presented at local theaters is one of the functions of the newspaper. If the play is a classic, only the quality of the acting need be discussed. If it is new, the notice should also include a description of the play and of its merit. Fortunately, this can always be determined by one simple test—a test suggested by no less a critic than William Shakespeare: Does it hold the mirror up to nature? Does it give, in other words, an accurate picture of life? The stage, it may be added, always has been and is now infested by many so-called plays which are not plays at all, but mere conglomerations of more or less (usually less) moral and amusing jokes and antics. The events which some of them depict could occur neither on the earth, in the sky above the earth, nor in the waters underneath the earth. From others it would be impossible to cut out any character or scene without improving the whole. They fill the theater with people and the manager's pocket-book with money, but they are not plays.

III. Models

I

The Melting Pot comes to New York with a Chicago indorsement and the authority lent by the name of Mr. Israel Zangwill, as author. Mr. Zangwill's theme is that the United States is a crucible in which all the races and nationalities of the world are to be fused into one glorious people.

As a play The Melting Pot has the intellectual tone to be expected from Mr. Zangwill. It also has really poetic touches. In humor it is less successful. In dramatic construction it is faulty, as are so many of the contemporary plays which try to teach or preach something.

The play brings back to New York after a long absence that excellent actor, Mr. Walker Whiteside.—METCALFE in Life (abbreviated).[7]

[7] Reprinted by permission of Life.

II

Of David Copperfield, Dickens's favorite among his own works, there have been dramatizations almost innumerable. The latest, called the Highway of Life, by Louis N. Parker, author of Pomander Walk and Disraeli, has been done with extreme reverence for the text and with an elaborate scenic investiture that would have made glad the heart of the novelist, enamored as he was of the theater.

It was to have been the autumn offering at His Majesty's in London, with Sir Herbert Tree doubling as Micawber and Dan'l Peggotty. The war caused a change of plans, so the first performance on any stage took place at Wallack's in New York. Lennox Pawle, Mr. Parker's son-in-law, realized a long-cherished ambition to step forth as Micawber. Fresh from his multimillionaire of The Money Makers, came Emmet Corrigan for Dan'l Peggotty. Betsey Trotwood fell to Eva Vincent. The Lieblers were especially happy in their selection of a Mrs. Micawber in the person of Maggie Holloway Fisher. She spent days digging out and fashioning the costume she wears, and no one ever murdered a song more successfully than she at David's dinner-party. An astonishingly faithful imitation of her languishing airs is given by Philip Tonge, when, as Traddles, he reads Micawber's letter. J. V. Bryant, the Copperfield, and Vernon Steele, the Steerforth, are both English. O. P. Heggie deserves more than a passing word of commendation for the things he refrains from doing as Uriah Heep. He is not forever going through that waterless washing of the hands.

There are ten different sets of scenery in The Highway of Life, all charming or effective as the case may be. For the background of Mr. Wickfield's garden at Canterbury we have a glimpse of the famous cathedral, and from Betsey Trotwood's domain we get a view of the chalk cliffs and downs at Dover. A happy conceit throws shadow pictures of the principal characters upon a sheet as they cross the stage just before the first curtain rises.—MATTHEW WHITE, JR., in Munsey's (abbreviated).[8]

[8] Reprinted by permission of Munsey's.

IV. Notes and Queries

1. What is the subject of each paragraph in Model I?

2. Explain the function of each sentence in Model I.

3. Discuss the meaning and etymology of the following terms: Chicago indorsement; theme; crucible; fuse; contemporary.

4. Who is Israel Zangwill?

5. Tell the story of David Copperfield.

6. Why does Matthew White not tell it?

7. Discuss the uses of the apostrophe.

8. Discuss the meaning and etymology of: dramatization; extreme; elaborate; investiture; novelist; enamored; theater; doubling; ambition; sets.

9. What is the subject of each paragraph in Model II?

10. Find at least two metaphors in the models.

V. Gathering Material

Material for this exercise may be secured in three places:

1. At the theater.

2. At a school play.

3. By reading, in case there is no chance to see a play, one of the following:

Fitch, W. C. Barbara Frietchie, or Nathan Hale. Gilbert, W. S. The Mikado, or Pinafore. Goldsmith, O. She Stoops to Conquer. Maeterlinck, Maurice. The Bluebird. Phillips, Stephen. Ulysses. Shakespeare, W. Any play. Shaw, G. B. Caesar and Cleopatra. Sheridan, R. B. The Rivals, or The School for Scandal. Tarkington, Booth. The Man from Home.

VI. Organization

From the following list of paragraph topics, select those which are best worth discussing in connection with the play which you desire to review.

Select those about which you can get the fullest information.

1. The Four W's. 2. The Story. 3. The Theme. 4. Poetry. 5. Humor. 6. Construction. 7. Philosophy. 8. The Actors. 9. The Scenery. 10. Character Portrayal.

If the play is noteworthy for its poetry, its wit, or its philosophy, these should be illustrated by one or two quotations. If the chief interest is in the story, tell the story. If its strength is derived from the skill of the actors, from the setting, or from character portrayal, devote your attention to a clear exposition of these phases of the play. Do not permit your notice to be shorter than I nor longer than II.

VII. Suggested Time Schedule

Monday—Discussion of Mistakes in former Themes. Tuesday—Study of Models through Dictation. Wednesday—Gathering of Material—Organization. Thursday—Oral Discussion of First Drafts. Friday—1. Present finished work to teacher. 2. Program.

VIII. A Shakespeare Program

If, for any reason, it seems unwise to send pupils to a play, they might be requested (1) to present the following program, or some modification of it, as typical of Shakespeare's best work, and (2) to write notices or critiques thereon. It is perhaps unnecessary to add that no more profitable or delightful exercise can be devised for a class.

1. Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream Music. 2. Antony's Oration (with mob). 3. Songs from As You Like It. 4. Quarrel of Brutus and Cassius. 5. The Seven Ages of Man. 6. Hamlet's Soliloquy. 7. The Trial Scene from The Merchant of Venice. 8. Songs from Various Plays. 9. The Rude Mechanicals, from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

IX. Memorize

THE ART OF ACTING

Hamlet. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but, if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.

First Player. I warrant your honour.

Hamlet. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

First Player. I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us, sir.

Hamlet. O, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too; though, in the mean time, some necessary question of the play be then to be considered: that's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 2.



CHAPTER XIII

INTERVIEWS

"To be a well-favored man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature."—SHAKESPEARE.

I. Introduction

For most of his material a reporter must rely upon his success as an interviewer. This, it has already been pointed out, requires courage, tact, persistence, and some knowledge of human nature. Its performance is beyond the powers of most boys and girls, and besides, if they tried it, they would annoy people. As a substitute, the exercises that follow have been devised. They involve interviews, it is true, but only with the members of a pupil's own family.

There are two ways to manage an interview. One may go directly at it, which is sometimes the best method, or one may approach the subject cautiously. It depends on the disposition of the person interviewed. The direct method will probably work well with mother, who is never out of sorts, but as to father—well, the case may be different; while sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, and uncles present endless problems and opportunities.

Before interviewing anybody, it is a good plan always to write down the questions you wish to ask. But do not read them to the person interviewed. Get them so thoroughly into your own mind that you will forget none of them. As an exercise, make a set of questions such as you would need to ask in order to learn the facts contained in the following paragraphs from Franklin's Autobiography.

II. Assignments

Write the opening paragraphs of your own biography, covering the topics suggested below:

Week 1—My Ancestors. Week 2—My Uncles. Week 3—My Parents.

III. Model I

MY ANCESTORS

One of my uncles furnished me with several particulars relating to our ancestors. From his notes I learned that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in Northamptonshire, for three hundred years, and how much longer he knew not (perhaps from the time when the name of Franklin, that before was the name of an order of people, was assumed by them as a surname when others took surnames all over the kingdom), on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's business, which had continued in the family until his time, the eldest son being always bred to that business, a custom which he and my father followed as to their eldest sons. When I searched the records of Ecton, I found an account of their births, marriages, and burials from the year 1555 only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time preceding. By that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow business longer, when he went to live with his son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship. There my grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child, a daughter. My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz: Thomas, John, Benjamin, and Josiah. I will give you what account I can of them.

IV. Queries

1. Who was Benjamin Franklin? Answer in a five-minute speech.

2. What is the difference between a biography and an autobiography?

3. Locate Ecton, Northamptonshire, Banbury, and Oxfordshire.

4. Point out all of the adjective phrases.

5. Does Franklin use simple, compound, or complex sentences, and in what proportion?

6. Make a list of the topics he discusses. Can you improve his order?

7. Are his sentences long or short?

8. Do they lack unity?

9. Can you find any metaphors or antitheses in the model?

10. Discuss the origin of the name Franklin. What is a surname? When did the English assume surnames?

V. Composition

Write an account of your own ancestors, choosing either your father's or your mother's family. Let the length be about the same as that of the model. The topics discussed should include the following:

1. Origin of surname. 2. European home. 3. Occupations. 4. My grandfather. 5. His sons.

Your father, mother, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, and grandmothers will furnish you with the material for your composition; and their aid may be supplemented by the books of genealogy that you will find in the public library. Remember that the items listed above were suggested to Franklin by his material; if you have interesting facts or traditions that cannot be included under the heads which he uses, put them in none the less. Matter should determine form.

VI. Model II

MY UNCLES

Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and encouraged in learning (as all my uncles were) by an Esquire, then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for the business of scrivener; became a considerable man in the county; was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county or town of Northampton, and his own village, of which many instances were related of him, and much taken notice of and patronized by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, January 6, old style, just four years to a day before I was born. The account we received of his life and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as something extraordinary. "Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have supposed a transmigration."

John was bred a dyer, I believe, of woolens. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious man. I remember him well, for when he was a boy he came over to my father in Boston, and lived in the house with us for some years. He lived to a great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, consisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and relations. He had formed a shorthand of his own, which he taught me; but, never practicing it, I have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a particular affection between him and my father. He was very pious, a great attender of sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in his shorthand. He was also much of a politician.

VII. Topics for Oral Composition

1. What is an Esquire? A gentleman? A parish? A scrivener?

2. Explain the term "old style."

3. What is meant by transmigration?

4. What is an apprenticeship? An occasional piece?

5. Explain the terms "quarto," "folio," and "octavo."

VIII. Written Composition

Write an account of your uncles. Make it as rich as possible in concrete facts, for facts are the life and soul of composition. Let the length be about the same as that of the model. Note that Franklin discusses his uncles in an order determined by the principle that first and last places are the most conspicuous. He put the uncle about whom he knows most in last place, so as to have a strong ending, which grows, so to speak, to a climax; he puts the uncle who is entitled to second place first in order of discussion; and the uncle who is least important is mentioned in the middle.

IX. Model III

MY PARENTS

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three children into New England about 1682. The conventicles having been forbidden by law and frequently disturbed induced some considerable men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was prevailed with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their mode of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all seventeen, of whom I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be men and women and married. I was the youngest son and the youngest child but two, and was born in Boston, New England. My mother, the second, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather, in his church history of that country, as "a godly, pious, learned Englishman." I have heard that he wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only one of them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was written in 1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and addressed to those then concerned in the government there. It was in favor of liberty of conscience and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other sectaries that had been under persecution. The whole appeared to me to be written with a good deal of decent plainness and manly freedom. The six concluding lines I remember, though I have forgotten the two first of the stanza; but the purport of them was that his censures proceeded from good will and therefore he would be known to be the author:

"Because to be a libeller I hate it with my heart. From Sherburne town, where now I dwell, My name I do put here; Without offence your real friend, It is Peter Folgier!"

X. Questions and Topics for Oral Composition

1. What is the subject of "disturbed," line 3? 2. Discuss the subject of "conventicles." 3. To what religious sect did Josiah Franklin belong? 4. Why did he come to America? 5. Who was Cotton Mather? 6. Define "sundry" and "occasional." 7. What is "homespun verse"? Explain the figure. 8. Define "sectaries" and "stanza."

XI. Exercises

1. Rewrite Model III in modern English.

2. Write an account of your own parents of about the same length as Model III.

3. Before deciding finally on the style of this account of your parents, seek in the corresponding sections of several biographies for hints. Good ones may be discovered in Boswell's Johnson, Lockhart's Scott, Southey's Nelson, Trevelyan's Macaulay, and Hallam Tennyson's Tennyson.

XII. Suggested Reading

O. W. Holmes's Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill and Dorothy Q.

XIII. Memorize

PROCRASTINATION

Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer; Next day the fatal precedent will plead. Procrastination is the thief of time. At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan; At fifty chides his infamous delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve, In all the magnanimity of thought Resolves, and re-resolves; then dies the same. EDWARD YOUNG.



CHAPTER XIV

THE EXPOSITION OF MECHANICS

"'Tis not in mortals to command success. But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it." JOSEPH ADDISON.

I. Assignments

1. Explain the plan of your own house.

2. Explain the plan of some new house that you pass on your way to school.

3. Explain the structure of a new locomotive, railway car, street car, automobile, ship, or aeroplane.

4. Explain the plan of your schoolhouse.

5. The papers contain many descriptions of new houses. These are usually written with a fine disregard of the laws of composition. Find and rewrite one of them. Do the same with a description of a ship such as is common in periodicals.

II. Model I

The new suburban home of John Doe is located in a ten-acre tract on the northern side of the Seven-Mile Road, midway between Woodward Avenue and the Gratiot E. Turnpike. The material is reinforced concrete; the style, Colonial; the roof of green shingles; the size, 48 feet by 36 feet.

From a front entrance porch a central hall 7 feet wide extends 29 feet to the rear of the house, terminating in a flight of stairs broken in the middle by a landing. Above this landing a circular window gives plenty of light and at the same time forms a decorative feature.

On the right, as one enters the hall, is a room 9 feet by 14 feet, which may be used as a den or a reception room. Back of this is a living-room, 14 feet by 20 feet, with a fireplace at the rear end, and a French door that leads to a side piazza. This piazza, which is 20 feet by 7 feet, is covered and is equipped with sliding windows.

On the other side of the hall, in front, is the dining-room, 16 feet by 14 feet. This room has a fireplace, which faces the street, and a French door, which leads to a side porch 8 feet by 10. The latter is enclosed with glass and is used as a breakfast porch. Directly behind this porch is a small sewing-room, and, partly behind the sewing-room and partly behind the dining-room, is the kitchen, which is 12 feet square. In the northwest corner of the house, directly north of the sewing-room and west of the kitchen, are a small back porch and an entry large enough for a refrigerator. East of the kitchen, between it and the main hall, are a passage and service stairways leading to the cellar and the upper floors. The kitchen is thus separated from the rest of the house, either way, by two doors, which prevents the odors of the cooking from escaping.

The walls of the first floor are finished in oiled and waxed gumwood. The floors are oak, except in the kitchen, where hard pine is used.

On the second floor the rear of the space above the main hall is occupied by a passage, the front by a bathroom. On the eastern side of this passage, above the den, is a bedroom 16 feet by 14 feet, and back of this, above the living-room, a bedroom 14 feet by 11 feet. The latter has a fireplace in the north wall. On the western side of the passage, in front, above the dining-room, is the owner's chamber, 16 feet by 14 feet. From its southeast corner a door leads to the bathroom already mentioned; on its southwest side is a porch, and in its northern wall are two closets and a fireplace. In its rear a passage leads to a fourth chamber, 14 feet by 10 feet, which has an alcove, 9 feet by 8 feet. This alcove is directly above the sewing-room and the chamber is in the northwest corner of the house. Between it and the service stairway is a second bathroom.

On the third floor are three large chambers, an unfinished room for storage, and a servants' bath.

The cellar contains a laundry, a vegetable closet, coal-bins, and a hot-water heating-plant.

III. Analytical Discussion

1. Note the framework: (a) "Four W's"—Par. 1. (b) First Floor— Par. 2. Main Hall. Par. 3. Right Side. Par. 4. Left Side. Par. 5. Floors and Walls. (c) Second Floor—Par. 6. (d) Third Floor. Par. 7. (e) Cellar—Par. 8.

2. Words. Define and explain the etymology of "suburban," "located," "reinforced," "concrete," "Colonial," "reception," "piazza," "porch," "refrigerator," "separated," "except," "servant," "closet," "effect."

3. Sentences. (a) Tell whether they are simple, complex, or compound. (b) Do any of them lack unity?

4. Paragraphs. (a) Can you find any violations of paragraph unity? (b) Observe that the following particulars are mentioned in Par. 1: location, material, shape, color, size. Is the same plan used in describing each room? In order to determine this, make a list of the items that are mentioned in explaining the construction of each.

5. Transition. Point out all of the transition words in the model.

6. Figures of Speech. Find a metaphor and an antithesis in the model.

IV. Model II

The Arizona is the latest and greatest addition to the battle fleet of the United States.

Her displacement is 31,400 tons, her length over all 600 feet, her maximum breadth 97 feet, and her draft under normal conditions 28 feet, 10 inches. Parsons's turbines of 29,000 horse-power give her a speed of 21 knots. Her fuel supply is 2322 tons of oil. She carries a crew of 1000 men. Her cost was $16,000,000.

Her armament consists of twelve fourteen-inch and twenty-two five-inch guns, four three-pounders for the launches, two three-inch guns for salutes, and four twenty-two-inch torpedo tubes. The big guns are mounted in four turrets, two forward and two aft, each containing three guns. The turrets nearer to the middle of the ship are enough higher than the forward and aft turrets to permit their guns to be fired directly ahead and astern respectively. This arrangement permits the concentration of six guns forward, six aft, and twelve on either broadside.

This vessel is probably armored more heavily than any other warship afloat. Her main belt is sixteen inches thick, while the Iron Duke, one of the latest British dreadnoughts, carries only twelve inches.

V. Notes and Queries

1. Observe the structure: Par. 1. General Description. Par. 2. Statistics. Par. 3. Offensive Power. Par. 4. Defensive Arrangements.

2. Could the same structure be used for the description of a freight boat, a passenger steamer, a ferryboat, a schooner, a sloop, a brig, a brigantine, a tugboat, a launch, a locomotive, a railway carriage, an airship, or an automobile?

3. What changes, if any, would you suggest?

4. Explain the terms "displacement," "draft," "normal," "knots," "pounds," "turrets."

5. Explain the metaphor in "belt." Is it a good one?

VI. Gathering Material

Do not get your material from reading; get it from observation. Don't steal it; earn it. Catch your fish; don't buy a string of dead ones at the fish-market, and then lie about the way you obtained them. Few of us can be original, but we can all be honest and industrious.

VII. Organization

Before you write, make a plan. It is as necessary in composition as in building. If the nature of your subject or the kind and quantity of your material render it desirable to deviate from the model, do not hesitate to do so. As a rule, however, it will be best to follow its plan rather closely. At all events, work from some plan. Don't get the idea that you can dash off a finished exposition in a few minutes.

VIII. Writing

Exposition above everything else should be clear. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

IX. Criticism

The written expositions of house plans may be tested by having the pupils exchange papers, and asking the recipients to draw the plans from the compositions.

X. Suggested Reading

Rudyard Kipling's The Ship that Found Herself.

XI. Memorize

CHARITY

Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human. One point must still be greatly dark, The moving why they do it, And just as lamely can ye mark How far perhaps they rue it.

Who made the heart 'tis he alone Decidedly can try us; He knows each chord—its various tone, Each spring—its various bias. Then at the balance let's be mute; We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted. ROBERT BURNS.



CHAPTER XV

THE EXPOSITION OF IDEAS

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think." LORD BYRON.

I. Introduction

The exposition of ideas is difficult and important. It takes many forms, but only three can be noticed in this chapter: (1) Exposition through Narration; (2) Exposition through Condensation; (3) Exposition through Comparison. The three following models illustrate these three forms, respectively.

II. Model I

PUFFERS

The wise men of antiquity loved to convey instruction under the covering of apologue; and, though this practice is generally thought childish, we shall make no apology for adopting it on the present occasion. A generation which has bought eleven editions of a poem by Mr. Robert Montgomery may well condescend to listen to a fable of Pilpay.

A pious Brahmin, it is written, made a vow that on a certain day he would sacrifice a sheep, and on the appointed morning he went forth to buy one. There lived in his neighborhood three rogues who knew of his vow, and laid a scheme for profiting by it. The first met him and said, "Oh Brahmin, wilt thou buy a sheep? I have one fit for sacrifice." "It is for that very purpose," said the holy man, "that I came forth this day." Then the impostor opened a bag, and brought out of it an unclean beast, an ugly dog, lame and blind. Thereon the Brahmin cried out, "Wretch, who touchest things impure, and utterest things untrue, callest thou that cur a sheep?" "Truly," answered the other, "it is a sheep of the finest fleece and of the sweetest flesh. O Brahmin, it will be an offering most acceptable to the gods." "Friend," said the Brahmin, "either thou or I must be blind."

Just then one of the accomplices came up. "Praised be the gods," said this second rogue, "that I have been saved the trouble of going to the market for a sheep! This is such a sheep as I wanted. For how much wilt thou sell it?" When the Brahmin heard this his mind waved to and fro, like one swinging in the air at a holy festival. "Sir," said he to the newcomer, "take heed what thou dost; this is no sheep, but an unclean cur." "O Brahmin," said the newcomer, "thou art drunk or mad!"

At this time the third confederate drew near. "Let us ask this man," said the Brahmin, "what the creature is, and I will stand by what he shall say." To this the others agreed, and the Brahmin called out, "O stranger, what dost thou call this beast?" "Surely, O Brahmin," said the knave, "it is a fine sheep." Then the Brahmin said, "Surely the gods have taken away my senses"; and he asked pardon of him who carried the dog, and bought it for a measure of rice and a pot of ghee, and offered it up to the gods, who, being wroth at this unclean sacrifice, smote him with a sore disease in all his joints.

Thus, or nearly thus, if we remember rightly, runs the story of the Sanscrit AEsop. The moral, like the moral of every fable that is worth the telling, lies on the surface. The writer evidently means to caution us against the practices of puffers, a class of people who have more than once talked the public into the most absurd errors, but who surely never played a more curious or a more difficult trick than when they passed Mr. Robert Montgomery off upon the world as a great poet.—THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY, Essay on Mr. Robert Montgomery's Poems.

III. Topics for Discussion

1. The Fable, which is here illustrated, is a simple story told to point a moral or to make clear a complicated situation. AEsop and George Ade are perhaps the most interesting authors of fables—at least to twentieth-century Americans. An entertaining program may be arranged by assigning each member of the class a fable of one of these writers for oral reporting. The model illustrates well the value of the fable form in newspaper exposition.

2. Note the paragraph structure: (1) Introduction; (2) "Four W's," or Situation 1; (3) Climax, or Situation 2; (4) Denouement, Result, or Situation 3; (5) Moral, or Point.

3. Define and discuss the etymology of "antiquity," "apologue," "apology," "edition," "fable," "impostor," "accomplice," "confederate," "knave," "ghee," "caution," "puffers."

4. What proportion of Macaulay's words in Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 are monosyllables and dissyllables? Does he here use more or fewer big words in proportion than in Paragraphs 1 and 5? What is the effect on his style?

5. What proportion of his sentences are simple? Compound? Complex?

6. Topics for reports or speeches: Mr. Robert Montgomery; Pilpay; The Brahmins; AEsop; Sanscrit.

7. Explain the allusion in the phrase, "the Sanscrit AEsop."

8. Explain some episode in American history by means of a fable.

9. Write an editorial on some question of local and current interest, using the fable method to illustrate the situation.

IV. Model II

A Voltairean view of war may be of interest at this time. Some one has called attention to the illuminating discourse between Micromegas, gigantic dweller on one of the planets revolving about Sirius, and a company of our philosophers, as reported in the seventh chapter of the amusing fantasy bearing the name of the above-mentioned Sirian visitor. A free translation of a part of this conversation is here offered. After congratulating his terrestrial hearers on being so small and adding that, with so manifest a subordination of matter to mind, they must pass their lives in the pleasures of intellectual pursuits and mutual love—a veritable spiritual existence—the stranger is thus answered by one of the philosophers: "We have more matter than we need for the accomplishment of much evil, if evil comes from matter, and more mind than we need if evil comes from mind. Do you know that at the present moment there are a hundred thousand fools of our species, wearing caps, who are killing a hundred thousand other animals wearing turbans, or who are themselves being massacred by the latter, and that almost everywhere on earth this is the immemorial usage?" The Sirian, properly shocked, demands the reason of these horrible encounters between creatures so puny. "It is all about a pile of dirt no bigger than your heel," is the reply. "Not that any one of these millions of men marching to slaughter has the slightest claim to this pile of dirt; the only question is whether it shall belong to a certain man known as Sultan or to another having the title of Czar. Neither of the two has ever seen or ever will see the patch of ground in dispute, and hardly a single one of these animals engaged in killing one another has ever seen the animal for whom they are thus employed." Again the stranger expresses his horror, and declares he has half a mind to annihilate with a kick or two the whole batch of ridiculous assassins. "Don't give yourself the trouble," is the rejoinder; "they will accomplish their own destruction fast enough. Know that ten years hence not a hundredth part of these miserable wretches will be left alive; and know, too, that even if they were not to draw the sword, hunger, exhaustion, or intemperance would make an end of most of them. Besides, they are not the ones to punish, but rather those sedentary barbarians who, from the ease and security of their private apartments, and while their dinner is digesting, order the massacre of a million men, and then solemnly return thanks to God for the achievement." The visitor from Sirius is moved with pity for a race of beings presenting such astonishing contrasts.—The Dial, January 1, 1915.[9]

[9] Reprinted by permission of The Dial.

V. Exercises

1. Topics for short speeches: Voltaire; Micromegas; planets; Sirius.

2. What is the moral of this fable?

3. Discuss the meaning and etymology of "Micromegas," "philosophers," "fantasy," "translation," "terrestrial," "intellectual," "Czar," "annihilate," "ridiculous," "rejoinder," "sedentary."

4. Find in the model one simple, one compound, and one complex sentence.

5. One loose and one periodic sentence.

6. Two antitheses.

7. Explain in one paragraph the point of some old book of current interest.

VI. Model III

Theodor Mommsen's "Law of National Expansion," in view of the present war, is interesting. In his History of Rome, which was published in 1857, he says in substance that a young nation which has both vigor and culture is sure to absorb older nations whose vigor is waning and younger nations whose civilization is undeveloped, just as an educated young man is sure to supplant an old man in his dotage and to get the better of a muscular ignoramus. That nations, as well as individuals, should do this is, in Mommsen's opinion, not only inevitable but right.

In ancient times the Romans were the only people in whom were combined a superior political organization and a superior civilization. The result was that they subdued the Greek states of the East, which were ripe for destruction, and dispossessed the people of lower grades of culture in the West. The union of Italy was accomplished through the overthrow of the Samnite and Etruscan civilizations. The Roman Empire was built upon the ruins of countless secondary nationalities which had long before been marked out for destruction by the levelling hand of civilization. When Latium became too narrow for the Romans, they cured their political ills by conquering the rest of Italy. When Italy became too narrow, Caesar crossed the Alps.

So far Mommsen. The conclusions drawn from his "law" by some of his successors are ingenious. They amount to this: As Rome grew in power and culture, so Brandenburg, since the days of the Great Elector, has been expanding in spirit and in territory. That illustrious prince began by absorbing Prussia. Frederick the Great added Silesia and a slice of Poland. Wilhelm I obtained Schleswig, Holstein, Alsace, and Lorraine by war, and Saxony and Bavaria by benevolent assimilation. The present Kaiser has already acquired Belgium by the former and Austria by the latter process. Like the Rome of Caesar, the German Empire is now at war on the one hand with decadent civilizations and on the other with a horde of barbarians. What Greece and Carthage were to Rome, France and England are to Germany, while Russia is the modern counterpart of the Gauls, Britons, and Germans of the Commentaries. Such at least is what certain writers think the Germans think.

VII. Notes and Exercises

1. Note the framework: (Par. 1) Mommsen's Law; (Par. 2) Illustration 1—Rome; (Par. 3) Illustration 2—Germany.

2. Topics for short speeches: Theodor Mommsen; The Rise of the Roman Empire; The Greeks; The People of the West; The Samnites and Etruscans; Brandenburg; The Great Elector; Prussia; Frederick the Great; Silesia; Poland; Schleswig and Holstein; Alsace and Lorraine; Saxony and Bavaria; Carthage; Julius Caesar and his Commentaries.

3. Add to the model paragraphs on the expansion of Spain, France, Russia, England, and the United States, or on any one of them.

VIII. Suggested Reading

Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. Macaulay's Frederick the Great. Southey's Life of Nelson. Parkman's The Conspiracy of Pontiac. Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe. Fiske's The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War.

IX. Memorize

HUMANITY

I would not enter on my list of friends, Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility, the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path; But he that has humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside and let the reptile live. The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight, And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes, A visitor unwelcome, into scenes Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove, The chamber, or refectory, may die; A necessary act incurs no blame. Not so when, held within their proper bounds, And guiltless of offence, they range the air, Or take their pastime in the spacious field. There they are privileged; and he that hunts Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong. The sum is this: If man's convenience, health, Or safety interfere, his rights and claims Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. Else they are all—the meanest things that are— As free to live and to enjoy that life, As God was free to form them at the first, Who, in his sovereign wisdom, made them all. Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons To love it too. WILLIAM COWPER.



CHAPTER XVI

EDITORIALS—CONSTRUCTIVE

"Opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making." JOHN MILTON.

I. Introduction

An editorial is a newspaper article in which the opinions of the editor are set forth. News deals with fact. In news articles the opinion of the writer must be suppressed. The pronouns "I" and "we" have no place in news. The essence of the editorial, on the other hand, is the opinion of the writer. On the editorial page, the man who directs the policy of a paper seeks to interpret the news in accordance with his own views and to persuade the public to adopt those views.

Editorials are therefore for the most part argumentative. In them the writer either comments directly on some news item and thus produces what may be called a constructive editorial, or takes issue with the editorial opinion of a rival in a controversial editorial, his object being to destroy the sentiment produced by his rival's article.

The power of the editorial writer for good or for evil is clear. That it is usually exerted for good is one of the best evidences that the newspapers of the country are controlled by men who desire to serve the public well.

II. Assignments

1. Write an editorial calling attention to some feature of current news.

2. Write an editorial advocating some plan or reform for the good of city, state, nation, or mankind.

III. Model I

We made the point some months ago that our electric light companies have been far behind those of Europe in making it possible for poor people to get their service. It is interesting to note that the Indiana and Michigan Electric Company, which operates in South Bend, Ind. (plows, wagons, sewing-machines), has started a campaign to do just this thing. About a third of the inhabitants of South Bend are laborers from Poland, Austria, and the Balkan countries, whose wages average about $1.50 or $1.75 per day. The electric company has figured out plans whereby houses can be wired at a cost of from $9 to $15 each, and lighting service can be given for a minimum of $1 per month. A Polish sales agent has been hired to talk to the newcomers, write advertisements for their papers, and attend to their complaints—in short, to translate electricity into Slovak, etc. The men engaged in the work are confident of success and are going after it. The effect in giving these people better ways and standards of living, in getting them a share in our modern American civilization, and a feeling that they are so sharing will necessarily be very great. This is solid public service, and it is far better than any charity. What is being done on this problem in your town?—Collier's Weekly, November 28, 1914.[10]

[10] Reprinted by permission of Collier's Weekly.

IV. Comments and Exercises

1. This is a constructive editorial with just a hint of argument. Find the argument.

2. Note the framework of the paragraph: (Sentence 1) Topic; (Sentence 2—Sentence 6) Story; (Sentence 7) Conclusion.

3. Find the "Four W's."

4. Remember that the perfect tense denotes an act begun in the past and completed in the present. Does its use sufficiently tell when a thing is or was done?

5. Write a similar editorial commenting on some improvement in your own town.

V. Model II

Were we suddenly called upon to face a crisis such as Europe was called upon to face with but very little warning, it would find us wofully unprepared. In the security of our peace we have neglected to build up an organization capable of performing the multitudinous services of war, or of any great disaster, either political or physical, which may come into a nation's life. The thousands of young men in colleges and universities offer a field for the development of such a force of trained men in a way that would entirely revolutionize our educational as well as our defensive system.

As our athletics are conducted to-day, a few picked men have trainers, coaches, rubbers, and waiters for the purpose of preparing them for a conflict with a correspondingly small group of similarly trained men from other institutions. The remainder of the student body, which makes this training possible, is meanwhile physically utterly neglected.

Yet the average young man entering college is quite as much in need of physical development and training as of mental. The country, too, is in need of disciplined, trained men; and this double need can be met—can be met for less money than is expended on a single season's football team. A system of military drill, under the supervision of experts in military discipline and hygiene, with the cooeperation of the athletic associations of the colleges, and under the auspices of the United States Government, would prove of inestimable value to every student in the college, and would furnish to the nation a groundwork upon which a magnificent national service could be established. A spirit of true patriotism and of unselfish public service would be instilled in the students. The nucleus of a trained military corps would be established from which officers and men could be recruited with but little additional training in time of war.—Puck.[11]

[11] Reprinted by permission of Puck.

VI. Comments and Exercises

1. What is the point of this editorial?

2. Note the point of each paragraph: (Par. 1) Our colleges might furnish the means of remedying our national lack of preparation for war; (Par. 2) at present our athletics benefit only a few individuals; (Par. 3) if military training were introduced into our colleges, it would benefit both individuals and the nation.

3. A more logical arrangement would be: (Par. 1) The United States is not prepared for war; (Par. 2) as now organized, our college athletics benefit only a few individuals; (Par. 3) if military training were introduced into our colleges, individual students and the nation alike would be benefited.

4. In which arrangement is paragraph unity better observed?

5. Is the arrangement in the model better in any respect than the one suggested?

6. The following words are hackneyed: "wofully," "utterly," "inestimable," "magnificent," "groundwork." Suggest some synonyms. Can any of these words be omitted? Lowell's rule was: "Cut out the adjectives and adverbs. Make the nouns and verbs do the work."

7. Explain the construction of "with but very little warning," "for the purpose," "from other institutions," "physically," "utterly," "drill."

8. What is the difference between "development" and "training"? Between "true patriotism" and "unselfish public service"? "College" and "university"?

9. Does this model contain any misstatements of fact?

10. Is the plan feasible or desirable?

11. Could it be extended to secondary schools?

12. Find in the model at least four mixed metaphors. If you do not know what a mixed metaphor is, perhaps this classic example of one will inform you: "Mr. Speaker, I smell a rat. I see him brewing in the air. But, mark me, I shall yet nip him in the bud."

13. Discuss the meaning and etymology of "crisis," "disaster," "political," "physical," "nation," "revolutionize," "educational," "athletics," "institutions," "disciplined," "military," "supervision," "experts," "auspices," "spirit," "instilled," "nucleus," "corps," "recruited," "additional."

14. Shall we say "instilled in," "instilled into," or "developed in"?

15. Write an answer to Model II.

16. The great merits of Model II lie in its content and its construction. The fundamental principle on which it is built might be called the "killing-two-birds-with-one-stone idea." Two things are wrong; one reform will make both right. Can you think of any other subject which might be discussed on the same principle?

VII. Suggested Reading

Lamb's Dissertation on Roast Pig. Addison's Hilpa and Shalum. Emerson's Compensation. Holmes's The Broomstick Train.

VIII. Memorize

METRICAL FEET[12]

TROChee TRIPS from LONG to SHORT ; FROM LONG TO LONG IN SOL EMN SORT SLOW SPON DEE STALKS; STRONG foot, yet ILL able EVer to KEEP up with DACtyl tri SYllable; iAM bus MOVES from SHORT to LONG; With a LEAP and a BOUND the swift AN apests THRONG. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.

[12] Coleridge here illustrates the feet while explaining them, an admirable device in exposition. "Dactyl" is a fine word; in Greek it means "finger"; like a finger, a poetic dactyl has three parts, one long and two short. "Anapest" comes from a Greek verb which means "strike back"; an anapest is a reversed dactyl. Most English poems are written in iambi. Longfellow's Hiawatha is in trochees, Evangeline in dactyls, and The Destruction of Sennacherib (see page 70) in anapests.



CHAPTER XVII

EDITORIALS—DESTRUCTIVE

"O great corrector of enormous times, Shaker of o'er-rank states, thou grand decider Of dusty and old titles, that healest with blood The earth when it is sick, and curest the world O' the pleurisy of people!" BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

I. Introduction

In Chapter XVI constructive editorials were discussed. The object of this chapter is to present a few exercises on destructive editorials. Their object, of course, is not really to create ruin; it is merely to clear away rubbish in order to prepare the ground for the edifice of truth.

II. Assignment

Write an editorial in reply to an editorial in which a false position is assumed by the writer.

III. Model I

Vice-President Marshall's declaration, made some time ago at Wabash College, that the old man is being shoved off the stage everywhere, needs revision, as does the opinion of another statesman that men over fifty are atrophied.

In the last great war between France and Germany the campaign was planned and led by elderly men. The Emperor William, then King of Prussia, was in his seventy-fourth year; Von Moltke, the master strategist of the war, was seventy-one years old; General von Roon was sixty-eight; and Bismarck, the master mind in the larger field, was in his fifty-sixth year.

In the next great war in which high military efficiency was displayed, Admiral Togo was approaching his sixtieth year when he took the field; Prince Oyama, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese forces in Manchuria, had passed his sixtieth year; Field Marshal Nodzu was sixty-three; Field Marshal Yamagata was sixty-six; General Kuroki was sixty; and General Nogi, who took Port Arthur after a series of desperate conflicts, carried on with unflinching energy and almost breathless rapidity, was nearly sixty years of age.

In the present war Lord Kitchener, the organizing genius of the English army, is sixty-four; and Sir John French, commanding the English forces in the field, is sixty-two. When Lord Roberts was sent to South Africa to snatch victory out of defeat, he was sixty-eight years of age.

On the French side, General Joffre is sixty-two; General Pau is sixty-six; General Castelnau, the third in command, is well advanced in the sixties; and General Gallieni, who is in command of the defenses of Paris, is seventy.

The German armies are also led by a group of elderly men. Count von Huelsenberg has reached the mature age of seventy-eight; Field Marshal von der Goltz is seventy-one; General von Kluck has reached his sixty-eighth year; General von Emmich was sixty-six; and General von Hindenberg is sixty-seven.

These figures suggest that, while fifty may be the deadline among Democratic statesmen, it appears to be a kind of life-line among great leaders abroad.—Adapted from The Outlook, November 11, 1914.[13]

[13] Reprinted by permission of The Outlook.

IV. Analysis

Observe the framework. Paragraph 1 states the point to be proved. Paragraphs 2-5 are composed of examples, arranged thus:

1. The War of 1871. 2. The War of 1905. 3. The Present War. (a) France. (b) England. (c) Germany.

The order, in other words, is at once the order of chronology and that of climax, which combine to make the facts easy to remember. Paragraph 6 summarizes the argument and clinches it by a sharp antithesis.

V. Exercises

1. Using a similar framework, write an editorial disproving by examples the point made by the writer of the model.

2. Write an editorial proving by examples any proposition which you believe to be true and in which you are deeply interested.

3. Prove or disprove by example any one of the following propositions:

(a) Left-hand batters are better than right-hand batters.

(b) Germans are better ball-players than Irishmen.

(c) Frenchmen cannot play ball.

(d) Men write better than women.

(e) Asphalt pavements are more durable than brick pavements.

(f) Germany has contributed more to the world's culture than England.

(g) College graduates are more successful as statesmen than are self-made men.

(h) Very tall men have ever very empty heads.

(i) Athletes usually succeed well in after life.

(j) Dr. Samuel Johnson was a great wit. (For Johnson, substitute, if you wish, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Samuel Butler, Alexander Pope, Charles Lamb, Sidney Smith, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, or Mark Twain.)

In the model there are twenty-two examples. In your composition there must be at least ten.

VI. Model II

WHAT DOES A MAN PRODUCE?

Among the banners of the unemployed in New York when they came in collision with the police was one reading, "We Want All We Produce."

There is a common impression among Socialistic workmen, encouraged by some of the new-fangled college professors, that the weaver produces all the cloth that comes off the loom he tends, and he is robbed if his wages are only a part of the value of the cloth. But he is only one of a long line of producers, each of whom has to get some of the money for which that cloth is sold.

There was a farmer who grew the raw fiber. There was a railroad that transported the fiber. There was a long list of workmen who did various things in the preparation of that fiber. It took several classes of men to convert that fiber into yarn. Some men dug the coal and a railroad hauled it. It took a good many men a considerable time to build the loom and the engine and the mill, and all of them have got to be paid. The men who have paid all these previous classes of workers may reimburse themselves out of a part of the proceeds of the bolt of cloth without committing any robbery. What are the dividends but the reimbursement of the people that have paid the miners and mechanics and builders for their work before the cloth was sold?

The report of the Comptroller of the Currency shows that the average return on all the shares and bonds of all the corporations in the United States is 4.3 per cent. That doesn't look unreasonable. It isn't very much more than savings-bank interest. Of course, some corporations make very much more, but many must make nothing in order to bring the average down to 4.3 per cent. Besides, there are a few bonds that do not pay 4.5 per cent or more, so that the average return on the shares, which represent the ownership of the mills and factories, would be less than 4.3 per cent.

What does a man produce? Well, put a man with only his bare hands upon a spot of earth, or in a mine hole, or by the side of a stream and how much will he produce? What are the chances that he will not starve to death before he can produce anything? If you give him tools, and "grub-stake" him, in mining lingo, or support him until he has produced something and it has been marketed, the produce of other men has been given him. They have got to be paid for their produce in some way. The man in question can't have all he produces without defrauding the men who produced the tools and food which he used during the time he was getting his product made or extracted.[14]—Philadelphia Record.

[14] Reprinted by permission of the Philadelphia Record.

VII. Analysis

1. What is proved by this editorial?

2. The method of Model I consists of overwhelming the enemy with an avalanche of examples. The method of Model II is to define the words used by an opponent and, by analyzing the meaning of what he asserts, to prove that he does not see his way through the question.

3. Note the framework: (Par. 1) "Four W's"; (Par. 2) Statement of Positions of Opponent and Writer; (Par. 3) Exposition of Writer's Position; (Par. 4) Refutation of Opponent's Idea; (Par. 5) Conclusion.

VIII. Exercises

1. Define and discuss the etymology of "collision," "transported," "convert," "considerable," "reimburse," "dividend," "corporations," "factories," "starve," "lingo," "support," "extract," "percentage," "average."

2. Subject for short expository speeches: "Socialism," "Shares," "Bonds," "Corporations," "Savings Banks," "Interest."

3. Write an answer to the model.

4. Write an editorial refuting some current fallacy or what you deem such. Use the analytic method of the model.

5. Examine the editorials in some current paper to determine whether they are expository or argumentative, constructive or destructive, if their frameworks are as good as those of the models, if their matter is as convincing, if their style is as good, and if their total effect is better or worse.

IX. Suggested Reading

Thomas Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard.

X. Memorize

OLD IRONSIDES[15]

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst the cannon's roar;— The meteor of the ocean air Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, Where knelt the vanquished foe, When winds were hurrying o'er the flood And waves were white below, No more shall feel the victor's tread, Or know the conquered knee;— The harpies of the shore shall pluck The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk Should sink beneath the wave; Her thunders shook the mighty deep, And there should be her grave; Nail to the mast her holy flag, Set every threadbare sail, And give her to the god of storms, The lightning and the gale. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

[15] Built about 1800, the frigate Constitution had a career that aroused popular fancy. She was at the bombardment of Tripoli in 1804; captured the British frigate Guerriere August 2, 1812; captured the British frigate Java December 29, 1812; and on February 20, 1815, captured the British ships Cyane and Levant. In 1830, when it was proposed to break her up, Holmes wrote this poem by way of protest. The result was that the ship was preserved. She now lies at the Boston Navy Yard, an object of great historic and patriotic interest. The poem is a kind of poetic editorial.



CHAPTER XVIII

ADVERTISEMENTS

"I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto."—FRANCIS BACON.

I. Introduction

In no field is the writer of English more generously rewarded than in advertising. The annual expenditure for advertising in the United States is close to $1,000,000,000 and is rapidly increasing. Writers skilled in presenting goods to the public command very large salaries in the distribution of this great sum. The profession has been steadily attaining higher standards and has made a place for its members in nearly every business house in the country. It is certain, however, that there is still a vast field open for advertising development.

II. Assignment I

Make a list of the reasons that would induce you to buy a particular kind of fountain pen; suit of clothes; set of books; stove or range; lead pencil; candy.

III. Example

(See page 109.)

IV. Definition

An advertisement is an argumentative composition cut down to its simplest elements, a composition in which single words represent sentences or even paragraphs of ordinary writing. A sentence in an advertisement frequently conveys the meaning that in ordinary writing would be expanded into a long descriptive essay. The principles of composition-writing apply to advertising in the superlative degree. Above all things else, an advertisement must be clear, coherent, and forceful. In addition to these things it must be brief.

Model Shoes make happy, handsome feet.

Model Shoes are made on natural foot-fitting lasts and feel right the first time.

Model Shoes are made of carefully selected hides tanned by the special process which increases their wearing quality thirty per cent. Every operation from cutting to final packing is under the supervision of experts who are specially trained in their line.

Model Shoes are designed by shoe artists who watch every turn in the smart productions of fashionable New York and London bootmakers and combine the most favored lines with model comfort into distinctive model designs.

$4.50 at your store Write for Style Booklet

Model Shoemakers Lowell, Mass.

V. Assignment II

From the reasons that you have listed in Assignment I, pick out the one that most attracts you in the case of each of the articles named. Give a reason for your choice. Find a quality in each article that you especially desire but rarely find.

VI. Forcefulness in Advertising

An advertisement must first of all demand and win attention. The first word, the first sentence, must be strong enough to arrest the eye of the average reader, who runs hastily through the advertising matter of a magazine, newspaper, or other medium. It must catch the reader's interest, and hold his attention long enough to lead him into the remainder of the argument.

So far as possible the first sentence, in some cases the first word, should contain the heart of the message, the one big thing that you have to say about the article you have to advertise. If you fail to get your reader's interest with your first sentence, the word or words that attracted his attention to your advertisement, you have lost him forever. You will have no opportunity to present to him the argument that may follow. Your attention words are read by your maximum audience. Your most attractive argument in its most striking form should therefore be presented to them at once.

VII. Assignment III

Write a sentence presenting the arguments selected in Assignment II in the strongest and most attractive sentences that you can devise. Reduce the sentences to the single words that express the ideas most vividly.

VIII. Humor in Advertising

As an attention feature, a touch of humor is valuable in advertising. It tends to put the reader into a pleasant frame of mind, a frame of mind in which he is likely to listen more attentively to what you have to say. It operates in the same way as the funny story that usually prefaces the remarks of the after-dinner speaker. The humor, however, must have a direct and unmistakable bearing on the body of your advertising. Irrelevant humor is as much a waste of valuable advertising space as an irrelevant illustration. Advertising space costs too much to be used for anything but advertising. Grotesque illustrations and far-fetched puns are no longer found in advertising columns, because they have been found ineffective.

IX. Illustrations

In advertising practice the attention feature is frequently supplied by an illustration showing the article advertised in the use that is emphasized in the body of the advertisement, or in a way to illustrate the special argument presented. The importance of the attention factor is indicated by the large amount of space that is occupied by such illustrations. Some experiments have indicated, however, that a well-written attention line is fully as effective as an average illustration.

X. Suggested Reading

Carl Schurz's Life of Abraham Lincoln.

XI. Memorize

IPHIGENEIA AND AGAMEMNON

Iphigeneia, when she heard her doom At Aulis, and when all beside the king Had gone away, took his right hand, and said: "O father! I am young and very happy. I do not think the pious Calchas heard Distinctly what the goddess spake; old age Obscures the senses. If my nurse, who knew My voice so well, sometimes misunderstood, While I was resting on her knee both arms, And hitting it to make her mind my words, And looking in her face, and she in mine, Might not he, also, hear one word amiss, Spoken from so far off, even from Olympus?" The father placed his cheek upon her head, And tears dropt down it; but the king of men Replied not. Then the maiden spake once more: "O father! sayest thou nothing? Hearest thou not Me, whom thou ever hast, until this hour, Listened to fondly, and awakened me To hear my voice amid the voice of birds, When it was inarticulate as theirs, And the down deadened it within the nest?" He moved her gently from him, silent still; And this, and this alone, brought tears from her, Although she saw fate nearer. Then with sighs: "I thought to have laid down my hair before Benignant Artemis, and not dimmed Her polished altar with my virgin blood; I thought to have selected the white flowers To please the nymphs, and to have asked of each By name, and with no sorrowful regret, Whether, since both my parents willed the change I might at Hymen's feet bend my clipt brow; And (after these who mind us girls the most) Adore our own Athene, that she would Regard me mildly with her azure eyes,— But, father, to see you no more, and see Your love, O father! go ere I am gone!" Gently he moved her off, and drew her back, Bending his lofty head far over hers; And the dark depths of nature heaved and burst. He turned away,—not far, but silent still. She now first shuddered; for in him, so nigh, So long a silence seemed the approach of death, And like it. Once again she raised her voice: "O father! if the ships are now detained, And all your vows move not the gods above, When the knife strikes me there will be one prayer The less to them; and purer can there be Any, or more fervent, than the daughter's prayer For her dear father's safety and success?" A groan that shook him shook not his resolve. An aged man now entered, and without One word stepped slowly on, and took the wrist Of the pale maiden. She looked up, and saw The fillet of the priest and calm, cold eyes. Then turned she where her parent stood, and cried: "O father! grieve no more; the ships can sail." WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.[16]

[16] When the Greeks were about to set sail for Troy, Artemis, being angry with their commander King Agamemnon, becalmed their ships at Aulis. The seer Calchas thereupon declared that the goddess could be propitiated only by the death of Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon. This legend forms the theme of tragedies by Euripides, Racine, and Goethe.



CHAPTER XIX

ADVERTISEMENTS (continued)

"Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order."—FRANCIS BACON.

I. Assignment I

Clip from current newspapers or magazines five advertisements which in your opinion have effective attention lines. Pick out five advertisements which in your opinion have ineffective attention lines. Give your reasons for your choice.

II. Assignment II

(a) Taking the attention arguments selected in the preceding chapter, set down all the questions that you might ask as a possible customer if you had been attracted by the attention line.

(b) In the five examples of effective advertising selected from newspapers or magazines, set down the questions that are answered in the matter following the attention lines.

III. Coherence in Advertising

An effective advertisement must be a logically developed argument leading from the attraction of attention to the point where the reader is convinced that he wants your goods, and beyond that to the point where he will take some definite physical action to get them.

The steps intervening between attention and action may be sketched in the briefest terms, may in some exceptional cases be omitted entirely from the final form of the advertisement, but must be carefully worked out in the mind of the writer, no step being omitted that is essential in the chain of reasoning that the ordinary mind must follow.

Obviously the chain of reasoning must start from the attention line. If you have attracted your reader by saying "Prices Cut," you must tell him how much the reduction is and why you have made the reduction. If, on the other hand, you have attracted the attention by saying "Our Goods are the Best," you must explain the reasons why they are the best. That the mind of the reader may be held to the line of the argument from attention to action, all material that has no bearing upon this line of argument must be excluded.

IV. Exercise

Answer the questions about the various articles set down in Assignment I, being careful to follow the logical order in which they would occur and to exclude all material that does not relate directly to the argument you have selected.

V. Clinching Results

When you have attracted the attention of your reader and carried him along through a logical argument to the conviction that he wants your goods, one thing more remains. He must be induced to act upon his conviction. Up to this point his part has been passive; he has been asked merely to sit in his easy chair and read what you have to say. Now he must be aroused to activity; he must be brought to the point of putting on his hat and coat and going out to buy your goods. The strongest language form at our command is required here, the direct urgent imperative. Involuntarily people tend to obey orders that are given them. The appeal must, of course, be courteous, so as not to offend; but it must be strong enough to induce action. Compare the strength of "Sign here for free booklet" with "If you will sign on this line, we will send you our free booklet."