Composition-Rhetoric Part 57

3. _The catastrophe of every play is caused always by the folly or fault of a man; the redemption, if there be any, is by the wisdom and virtue of a woman, and, failing that, there is none_. The catastrophe of King Lear is owing to his own want of judgment, his impatient vanity, his misunderstanding of his children; the virtue of his one true daughter would have saved him from all the injuries of the others, unless he had cast her away from him; as it is, she all but saves him. Of Oth.e.l.lo, I need not trace the tale; nor the one weakness of his so mighty love; nor the inferiority of his perceptive intellect to that even of the second woman character in the play, the Emilia who dies in wild testimony against his error:--

"Oh, murderous c.o.xcomb! what should such a fool Do with so good a wife?"

In _Romeo and Juliet_, the wise and brave stratagem of the wife is brought to ruinous issue by the reckless impatience of her husband. In _The Winter's Tale_, and in _Cymbeline_, the happiness and existence of two princely households, lost through long years, and imperiled to the death by the folly and obstinacy of the husbands, are redeemed at last by the queenly patience and wisdom of the wives. In _Measure for Measure_, the foul injustice of the judge, and the foul cowardice of the brother, are opposed to the victorious truth and adamantine purity of a woman. In _Coriola.n.u.s_, the mother's counsel, acted upon in time, would have saved her son from all evil; his momentary forgetfulness of it is his ruin; her prayer, at last, granted, saves him--not, indeed, from death, but from the curse of living as the destroyer of his country.

--Ruskin: _Sesame and Lilies_.

4.

_Bas. _So may the outward shows be least themselves; _The world is still deceived with ornament_.

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt But, being season'd with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil? In religion, What d.a.m.ned error, but some sober brow Will bless it and approve it with a text, Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?

There is no vice so simple but a.s.sumes Some mark of virtue on his outward parts: How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk; And these a.s.sume but valor's excrement To render them redoubted! Look on beauty, And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight; Which therein works a miracle in nature, Making them lightest that wear most of it: So are those crisped snaky golden locks Which make such wanton gambols with the wind, Upon supposed fairness, often known To be the dowry of a second head, The skull that bred them in the sepulcher.

Thus ornament is but the guiled sh.o.r.e To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word, The seeming truth which cunning times put on To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold, Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee; Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge 'Tween man and man: but thou, though meager lead, Which rather threatenest than dost promise aught, Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence; And here choose I: joy be the consequence!

--Shakespeare: _The Merchant of Venice_.

+Theme XCVII.+--_Write a paragraph proving the truth of one of the following statements:_--

1. It is a distinct advantage to a large town to be connected with the smaller towns by electric car lines.

2. Vertical penmanship should be taught in all elementary schools.

3. Examinations develop dishonesty.

4. Novel reading is a waste of time.

5. Tramps ought not to be fed.

(Make a brief. Consider the arrangement of your arguments. Read Section 72.)

+176. Errors of Induction.+--A common error is that of too hasty generalization. We conclude that something is always so because it happened to be so in the few cases that have come under our observation. A broader experience frequently shows that the hastily made generalization will not hold.

Some people are led to lose faith in all humanity because one or two of their acquaintances have shown themselves unworthy of their trust. Others are ready to p.r.o.nounce a merchant dishonest because some article purchased at his store has not proved to be so good as it was expected to be. There are those who are superst.i.tious concerning the wearing of opals, claiming that these jewels bring the wearer ill luck, because they have heard of some instances where misfortune seemed to follow the wearing of that particular stone. What may seem to be causes and effects at first may, upon further investigation or inquiry, prove to be merely chance coincidences. In your work in argument, whether for the cla.s.s room or outside, be careful about this point. Remember that your induction will be weak or even worthless if you draw conclusions from too few examples.

Often one example seems sufficient to cause belief. We might believe that all giraffes have long necks, even though we had seen but one; but such a belief would exist because, by many examples of other animals, we have learned that a single specimen will fairly represent all other specimens of the same cla.s.s. On the other hand, if this one giraffe should possess one brown eye and one white eye, we should not expect all other giraffes to have such eyes, for our observation of many hundreds of animals teaches us that the eyes of an animal are usually alike in color. In order to establish a true generalization, the _essential_ characteristics must be selected, and these cannot be determined by rule, but rather by common sense.

+177. Deductive Reasoning.+--When once a general principle has been established, we may demonstrate the truth of a specific proposition by showing that the general principle applies to it. We see a gold ring and say, "This ring is valuable," because we believe the general proposition, "All articles made of gold are valuable." Expressed in full, the process of reasoning would be--

_A._ All articles made of gold are valuable.

_B._ This ring is made of gold.

_C._ Therefore this ring is valuable.

A series of statements such as the above is called a syllogism. It consists of a major premise (_A_), a minor premise (_B_), and a conclusion (_C_).

Of course we shall not be called upon to prove so simple a proposition as the one given, but with more difficult ones the method of reasoning is the same. The process which applies a general proposition (_A_) to a specific instance (_C_), is called deductive reasoning.

+178. Relation between Inductive and Deductive Reasoning.+--Deductive reasoning is shorter and seems more convincing than inductive reasoning, for if the premises are true and the statement is made in correct form, the conclusions are irresistible. Each conclusion carries with it, however, the weakness of the premises on which it is based, and as these premises are general principles that have been themselves established by inductive reasoning, the conclusions of deductive reasoning can be no more _sure_ than those of inductive reasoning. Each may prove only that the proposition is probably true rather than that it is surely true, though in many cases this probability becomes almost a certainty.

+179. The Enthymeme.+--We seldom need to state our argument in the syllogistic form. One of the premises is usually omitted, and we pa.s.s directly from one premise to the conclusion. If we say, "Henry will not succeed as an engineer," and when asked why he will not, we reply, "Because he is not good in mathematics," we have omitted the premise, "A knowledge of mathematics is necessary for success in engineering." A shortened syllogism, that is, a syllogism with one premise omitted, is called an enthymeme.

Thus in ordinary matters our thought turns at once to the conclusion in connection with but one premise. We make a thousand statements which a moment's thought will show that we believe because we believe some unexpressed general principle. If I should say of my dog, "Fido will die sometime," no sensible person would doubt the truth of the statement. If asked to prove it, I would say, "Because he is a dog, and all dogs die sometime." Thus I apply to a specific proposition, Fido will die, the general one, All dogs die, a proposition about which there is no doubt.

Frequently the suppressed premise is not so well established as in this case, and the belief or nonbelief of the proposition will be determined by the individuals addressed, each in accordance with his experience. Suppose that in reading we find the statement, "A boy of fourteen ought not to be allowed to choose his own subjects of study, because he will choose all the easy ones and avoid the more difficult though more valuable ones." The omitted premise that all boys will choose easy studies, needs to be established by induction. If a high school princ.i.p.al had noticed that out of five hundred boys, four hundred elected the easy studies, he would admit the truth of the omitted premise, and so of the conclusion. But if only one hundred had chosen the easy subjects, he would reject the major premise and likewise the conclusion.

It is evident that in order to be sure of the truth of a proposition we must determine the truth of the premises upon which it is based. An argument therefore is frequently given over wholly to establishing the premises. If their truth can be demonstrated, the conclusion inevitably follows.

EXERCISES

_A._ Supply the missing premise for the following:--

1. John will succeed because he has a college education.

2. Henry is happy because he has plenty of money.

3. Candy is nutritious because it is made of sugar.

4. These biscuits will make me ill because they are heavy.

5. This dog must be angry because he is growling.

6. This fish can swim.

7. The plural of the German noun _der Garten_ is _die Garten_.

8. It will hurt to have this tooth filled.

_B._ Supply the reasons and complete the syllogism for each of the following:--

1. This book should not be read.

2. This hammer is useful.

3. That dog will bite.

4. This greyhound can run rapidly.

5. The leaves have fallen from the trees.

6. That boy ought to be punished.

7. It is too early to go nutting.

8. This boy should not study.

9. You ought not to vote for this man for mayor.

+Theme XCVIII.+--_Write a paragraph proving the truth of one of the following propositions:_--

1. Labor-saving machinery is of permanent advantage to mankind.

2. New Orleans will some day be a greater shipping port than New York.

3. Poetry has a greater influence on the morals of a nation than prose writing.