Composition-Rhetoric Part 54

The gray squirrel is remarkably graceful in all his movements. It seems as though some subtle curve was always produced by the line of the back and tail at every light bound of the athletic little creature. He never moves abruptly or jerks himself impatiently, as the red squirrel is continually doing. On the contrary, all his movements are measured and deliberate, but swift and sure. He never makes a bungling leap, and his course is marked by a number of sinuous curves almost equal to those of a snake. He is here one minute, and the next he has slipped away almost beyond the ability of our eyes to follow.

--F. Schuyler Matthews: _American Nut Gatherers_.

+Theme XCI.+--_Write a paragraph explaining one of the propositions below by means of repet.i.tion._

1. Physical training should be made compulsory in the high school.

2. Some people who seem to be selfish are not really so.

3. The dangers of athletic contests are overestimated.

4. The Monroe Doctrine is a warning to European powers to keep their hands off territory in North and South America.

5. By the "treadmill of life" we mean the daily routine of duties.

6. The thirst for novelty is one of the most powerful incentives that take a man to distant countries.

7. There are unquestionably increasing opportunities for an honorable and useful career in the civil service of the United States.

(Have you used any method besides that of repet.i.tion? Does your paragraph really explain the proposition?)

+165. Exposition by Use of Examples.+--Exposition treats of general subjects, and the topic statement of a paragraph is, therefore, a general statement. In order to understand what such a general statement means, the reader may need to think of a concrete case. The writer may develop his paragraph by furnishing concrete cases. (See Section 44.) In many cases no further explanation is necessary.

The following paragraph ill.u.s.trates this method of explanation:--

The lower portions of stream valleys which have sunk below sea level are called _drowned valleys_. The lower St. Lawrence is perhaps the greatest example of a drowned valley in the world, but many other rivers are in the same condition. The old channel of the Hudson River may be traced upon the sea bottom about 125 miles beyond its present mouth, and its valley is drowned as far up as Troy, 150 miles. The sea extends up the Delaware River to Trenton, and Chesapeake Bay with its many arms is the drowned valleys of the Susquehanna and its former tributaries. Many of the most famous harbors in the world, as San Francis...o...b..y, Puget Sound, the estuaries of the Thames and the Mersey, and the Scottish firths, are drowned valleys.

--Dryer: _Lessons in Physical Geography_.

+Theme XCII.+--_Develop one of the following topic statements into an expository paragraph by use of examples:_--

1. Weather depends to a great extent upon winds.

2. Progress in civilization has been materially aided by the use of nails.

3. Habit is formed by the repet.i.tion of the same act.

4. Men become criminals by a gradual process.

5. Men's lives are affected by small things.

6. Defeat often proves to be real success.

(Have you made your meaning clear? Does your example really ill.u.s.trate the topic statement? Can you think of other ill.u.s.trations?)

+166. Exposition by Comparison or Contrast.+--We can frequently make our explanations clear by comparing the subject under discussion with something that is already familiar to the reader. In such a case we shall need to show in what respect the subject we are explaining is similar to or differs from that with which it is compared. (Section 48.) Though customary it is not necessary to compare the term under discussion with some well-known term. In the example below the term _socialism_ is probably no more familiar than the term _anarchism_. Both are explained in the selection, and the explanations are made clearer by contrasting the one with the other.

Socialism, which is curiously confounded by the indiscriminating with Anarchism, is its exact opposite. Anarchy is the doctrine that there should be no government control; Socialism--that is, State Socialism--is the doctrine that government should control everything. State Socialism affirms that the state--that is, the government--should own all the tools and implements of industry, should direct all occupations, and should give to every man according to his need and require from every man according to his ability. State Socialism points to the evils of overproduction in some fields and insufficient production in others, under our compet.i.tive system, and proposes to remedy these evils by a.s.signing to government the duty of determining what shall be produced and what each worker shall produce. If there are too many preachers and too few shoemakers, the preacher will be taken from the pulpit and a.s.signed to the bench; if there are too many shoemakers and too few preachers, the shoemaker will be taken from the bench and a.s.signed to the pulpit. Anarchy says, no government; Socialism says, all government; Anarchy leaves the will of the individual absolutely unfettered, Socialism leaves nothing to the individual will; Anarchism would have no social organism which is not dependent on the entirely voluntary a.s.sent of each individual member of the organism at every instant of its history; Socialism would have every individual of the social organism wholly subordinate in all his lifework to the authority of the whole body expressed through its properly const.i.tuted officers. It is true that there are some writers who endeavor to unite these two antagonistic doctrines by teaching that society should be organized wholly for industry, not at all for government. But how a cooperative industry can be carried on without a government which controls as well as counsels, no writer, so far as I have been able to discover, has ever even suggested.

--Lyman Abbott: _Anarchism: Its Cause and Cure_.

+Theme XCIII.+--_Write an exposition that makes use of comparison:_--

Suggested subjects:-- 1. A bad habit is a tyrant.

2. Typewritten letters.

3. The muskrat's house.

4. Compare Shylock with Barabas in Marlowe's _Jew of Malta_.

5. Methods of reading.

6. All the world's a stage.

7. Compare life to a flower.

(Can you suggest any other comparisons which you might have used? Have you been careful in your selection of facts and arrangement?)

+167. Exposition by Obverse Statements.+--In explaining an idea it is necessary to distinguish it from any related or similar idea with which it may be confused in the minds of our readers. Clearness is added by the statement that one is _not_ the other. To say that socialism is not anarchy is a good preparation for the explanation of what socialism really is. In the following selection Burke excludes different kinds of peace and by this exclusion emphasizes the kind of peace which he has in mind.

The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts.--It is peace sought in the spirit of peace; and laid in principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of the difference, and by restoring the _former unsuspecting confidence of the colonies in the Mother Country_, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act, and by the bond of the very same interest which reconciles them to British government.

+168. Exposition by Giving Particulars or Details.+--One of the most natural methods of explaining is to give particulars or details. After a general statement has been made, our minds naturally look for details to make the meaning of that statement clearer. (See Sections 45-47.) This method is used very largely in generalized descriptions and narrations.

Notice the use of particulars or details in the following examples:--

Happy the boy who knows the secret of making a willow whistle! He must know the best kind of willow for the purpose, and the exact time of year when the bark will slip. The country boy seems to know these things by instinct. When the day for whistles arrives he puts away marbles and hunts the whetstone. His jackknife must be in good shape, for the making of a whistle is a delicate piece of handicraft. The knife has seen service in mumblepeg and as nut pick since whistle-making time last year. Surrounded by a crowd of spectators, some admiring, some skeptical, the boy selects his branch. There is an air of mystery about the proceeding. With a patient indulgent smile he rejects all offers of a.s.sistance. He does not attempt to explain why this or that branch will not do. When finally he raises his shining knife and cuts the branch on which his choice has fallen, all crowd round and watch. From the large end between two twigs he takes a section about six inches long. Its bark is light green and smooth.

He trims one end neatly and pa.s.ses his thumb thoughtfully over it to be sure it is finished to his taste. He then cuts the other end of the stick at an angle of about 45, making a clean single cut. The sharp edge of this is now cut off to make a mouthpiece. This is a delicate operation, for the bark is apt to crush or split if the knife is dull, or the hand is unskillful. The boy holds it up, inspecting his own work critically.

Sometimes he is dissatisfied and cuts again. If he makes a third cut and is still unsuccessful he tosses the spoiled piece away. It is too short now. A half dozen eager hands reach for the discarded stick, and the one who gets it fondles it lovingly. I once had such a treasure and cherished it until I learned the secret of the whistle-maker's art. He next places the knife edge about half an inch back from the end of the mouthpiece and cuts straight towards the center of the branch about one-fourth the way through. A three-cornered piece is now cut out, and the chip falls to the ground unheeded.

When this is finished the boy's eye runs along the stick with a calculating squint. The knife edge is placed at the middle, then moved a short distance towards the mouthpiece. With skillful hand he cuts through the bark in a perfect circle round the stick. While we watch in fascinated silence, he takes the knife by the blade and resting the unfinished whistle on his knees he strikes firmly but gently the part of the stick between the ring and the mouthpiece. Only the wooden part of the handle touches the bark. He goes over and over it until every spot on its surface has felt his light blow. Now he lays the knife aside, and grasping the stick with a firm hand below the ring in the bark, with the right hand he holds the pounded end. He tries it with a careful twist. It sticks. Back to his knees it goes and the tap, tap, begins again. When he twists it again it slips, and the bark comes off smoothly in one piece, while we breathe a sigh of relief. How white the stick is under the bark! It shines and looks slippery. Now the boy takes his knife again. He cuts towards the straight jog where the chip was taken out, paring the wood away, sloping up to within an inch of the end of the bark. Now he cuts a thin slice of the wood between the edge of the vertical cut and the mouthpiece.

The whistle is nearly finished. We have all seen him make them before and know what comes next. Our tongues seek over moist lips sympathetically, for we know the taste of peeled willow. He puts the end of the stick into his mouth and draws it in and out until it is thoroughly wet. Then he lifts the carefully guarded section of bark and slips it back into place, fitting the parts nicely together.

The willow whistle is finished. There remains but to try it. Will it go?

Does he dare blow into it and risk our jeers if it is dumb?

With all the fine certainty of the Pied Piper the boy lifts the humble instrument to his lips. His eyes have a far-off look, his face changes; while we strain eyes and ears, he takes his own time. The silence is broken by a note, so soft, so tender, yet so weird and unlike other sounds! Our hands quiver, our hearts beat faster. It is as if the spirit of the willow tree had joined with the spirit of childhood in the natural song of earth.

It goes!