scene, and this, of course, we can easily see belongs to that class of composition called Description. In Number III we have stated the facts that our topic sentence suggested, and have accordingly explained the key word in that sentence. The result has been a development by Exposition. And in the fourth we have also explained. This time, however, it has been not a concrete thing, his conduct, but an abstract conception, doubt, which we have had to explain and give the reasons for. Types III and IV will often be difficult to separate, for often you will have to use facts to develop a thought. Do not, however, let this difficulty trouble you. The important thing is not the kind of paragraph, but its development.1

Importance of Careful Development. Indeed, in the expansion of all four of these different types of topic sentences, your principal business is not so much to concern yourselves with what kind of composition you are handling, as to concentrate upon the way you develop the paragraph as a whole. It is your duty to weigh the topic sentence well, and then in succeeding sentences to develop it step by step, slowly but definitely, until the thought is completely rounded. The paragraph gives you opportunity to round out a single thought in every one of its details, and to this end you must be very careful to develop it slowly and completely. So doing, you will follow almost unconsciously the three laws, Unity, Emphasis, Coherence, which we accented in Chapter II.

1 One kind of paragraph is here left unmentioned, though it is a very common one. Either a paragraph of fact or a paragraph of thought may require arguing for or against a statement of fact or opinion in order to develop it. If we had written, "I believe that his defeat was not for the best," then it would have been necessary to prove this statement in order to complete the paragraph, and we should have had an argumentative paragraph. The chapter on Argument will take up this matter more fully.

EXERCISES

I. Expand the following topic sentences, first orally, then by

writing:

1. This has been a very eventful week.

2. I am a believer in school athletics.

3. He has shown himself to be a worthy candidate.

4. The appearance of the room displeased me.

5. I am very sure he will be convicted.

6. I was busy every minute I was away.

7. The sunset was one of the most extraordinary I have seen.

8. There is much to be said in favor of algebra.

II. Explain why each of the above represents a paragraph and not a sentence thought.

III. Compose eight sentences containing thoughts that require no further development.

IV. Develop the following sentences:

1. The situation is most interesting.

2. I was shocked at what I saw upon entering the room.

Which of the four methods have you used?

V. Compose topic sentences illustrating the four different types,

and develop them.

VI. Develop the following topic sentences by at least as many sentences as the number mentioned in each:

1. There are at least three good reasons for walking to school every morning.

2. Of the four boys in my class, I like John best.

3. Five trivial things occurred to discourage him in his lessons. 4. Whatever he may say, there are two good objections to

fraternities.

VII. Discover the method of development in each of the following paragraphs :—

1. Last January the fourth Constitutional Convention of the State of Ohio assembled at Columbus, to make a new Constitution for the State. It was composed of 119 delegates representing eighty

eight counties of the State, and it was in session for eighty-two days. It was organized in the usual way, but with an unusual number of committees twenty-five or more and adopted a code of 114 rules for its government besides "a book of rules on debates to be applied in cases not otherwise provided for." The convention was flooded with "business." Every man with a grievance, every man with a hobby, every man with a theory as to the way, "the easiest way," of regulating a supposedly "self-governing people," was there either in person or by deputy, with the result that 340 amendments to the Constitution were submitted for the consideration of the body besides 162 resolutions, making a grand total of 502 questions with which the convention had to deal in 82 days, or "an average," as it is proudly pointed out, "of a little more than six per day," which shows how rapidly the progressive movements of the present time exceed the speed limits of the effete past, and how easy a matter it is, after all, to "bring our political institutions up to date." New York Times.

2. Shortly I found myself enacting the part of an annual periodical to him. There was no need of exaggeration of any penny-a-line news, or of any sensationalism. The world had witnessed and experienced much the last few years. The Pacific Railroad had been completed; Grant had been elected President of the United States; Egypt had been flooded with savans; the Cretan rebellion had terminated; a Spanish revolution had driven Isabella from the throne of Spain, and a regent had been appointed; General Prim was assassinated; a Castelar had electrified Europe with his advanced ideas upon the liberty of worship; Prussia had humbled Denmark and annexed Schleswig-Holstein, and her armies were now around Paris; the "Man of Destiny" was a prisoner at Wilhelmshöhe; the Queen of Fashion and the Empress of the French was a fugitive; and the child born in the purple had lost forever the imperial crown intended for his head; the Napoleon dynasty was extinguished by the Prussians, Bismarck, and Von Moltke; and France, the proud empire, was humbled to the dust. - H. M. STANLEY.

3. In a certain old gentleman's last will and testament there appeared a bequest, which, as his final thought and deed, was singu

larly in keeping with a long life of melancholy eccentricity. He devised a considerable sum for establishing a fund, the interest of which was to be expended, annually forever, in preparing a Christmas Banquet for ten of the most miserable persons that could be found. It seemed not to be the testator's purpose to make these half a score of sad hearts merry, but to provide that the storm of fierce expression of human discontent should not be drowned, even for that one holy and joyful day, amid the acclamations of festal gratitude which all Christendom sends up. And he desired, likewise, to perpetuate his own remonstrance against the earthly course of Providence, and his sad and sour dissent from those systems of religion or philosophy which either find sunshine in the world or draw it down from heaven. HAWTHORNE.

4. Shaken by the new storm of emotion she went back silently by her silent cousin's side to the inn where her aunt awaited her. There, having shut herself into her room, she struggled for long to analyze the sensations of the day. A great terror, followed by a great deliverance such was the estimate which it seemed most natural to give of them. But somehow it would not fit. The real thing was not nearly so simple as that. Looking close she became aware of a very jumble of sensations. The moment in which she

had heard that Demetr Dobrowicz was dead had indeed brought a shock of pain; but there was something else mingled with the pain something like that wild relief which the consciousness of "knowing the worst" sometimes brings with it. The weary quest was ended; the torturing uncertainty done with. This way, at least, she would no longer live upon false hopes, nor dream dreams destined never to come true. It would be possible to adopt a definite attitude towards Life, instead of swaying about upon the quicksand of surmises, on which she had been precariously poised.

5. The Right Hon. James Bryce, British Ambassador to the United States, and an Englishman who has the warm affection of the country to which he is accredited, is in several ways one of the most notable men of his time. He is in his seventy-fifth year. That does not make him an old man by modern standards; but it is an age at which the majority even of energetic men are content to rest on

their achievements and to maintain the standard of their work. Mr. Bryce is a man of another temper; he does not furl his sail and seek the harbor now that the afternoon has come. Nearly half a century ago he published his standard history of The Holy Roman Empire, a work of erudition and of interest as well. That was followed, in 1888, by his American Commonwealth, the most exhaustive, authoritative, and thoroughly intelligent explanation of the American government, the American political ideas, and the American character which has appeared. In addition to these intellectual feats, he performed various physical feats which won him, thirteen years ago, the presidency of the Alpine Club. He had previously climbed Mount Ararat, and had made the final ascension alone. Last summer he visited those experiment stations in democracy, Australia and New Zealand, returning last month. He has just published the most interesting account which has yet appeared of South America, a sturdy octavo volume, packed with the results of close observation and careful thinking; and two weeks ago he made a journey of twenty-five miles in an air-ship. This is a record of physical activity, mental vigor, and industry which explains the extraordinary position Mr. Bryce holds in the regard of the whole English-speaking world. The Outlook.

6. The spirit of liberty is indeed a bold and fearless spirit; but it is also a sharp-sighted spirit; it is a cautious, sagacious, discriminating, far-seeing intelligence. It is jealous of encroachment, jealous of power, jealous of man; it demands checks; it seeks for guards; it insists on securities; it intrenches itself behind strong defenses, and fortifies itself with all possible care against the assaults of ambition and passion; it does not trust the amiable weaknesses of human nature, and therefore it will not permit power to overstep its prescribed limits, though benevolence, good intent, and patriotic purpose come along with it. Neither does it satisfy itself with flashy and temporary resistance to illegal authority. Far otherwise; it seeks for duration and permanence; it looks before and after, and. building on the experience of ages which are past, it labors diligently for the benefit of ages to come. DANIEL WEBSTER.

7. The second incident of the Port Arthur campaign that seems