paragraphs may be so grouped as to give us topic and summary paragraphs. If, for instance, we were going to write a composition on the subject, Three Reasons Why I Like Jim Hawkins, the word "three" itself would indicate, perhaps, that our composition should contain at least three paragraphs. But it may be desirable and necessary to define Jim Hawkins at the outset and to enumerate briefly his admirable qualities. This we will do in an extra or topic paragraph at the beginning of our composition; likewise, in concluding, we may wish to emphasize Jim Hawkins' characteristics in some particular way, to drive home a lesson, perhaps; in which case a concluding or summary paragraph would be helpful. If we like Jim Hawkins because he was loyal, because he was clever, and because he was brave, and if it is necessary for us to introduce him to our reader, and to conclude with some general final thought regarding him, our composition will consist of five paragraphs. These may not of course all be of equal length; indeed, one of Jim's qualities may interest us a good deal more than another and, as à consequence, we will devote a longer paragraph to that quality than to the others. It may take us but a moment to introduce our subject and to tell just what qualities in him we are going to discuss, and so our first paragraph can in this case be reduced to a few sentences. But whatever be our theme and whatever our purpose, we can make our paragraph serve us in form and size very much as we are going to make our sentences serve us in their form and expression. We shall study more of this when we come to study the composition as a whole. It is suggested here in order that you may know what is meant by topic and summary paragraphs when they are referred to later on. You will find examples of key and echo, by both sentences and paragraphs, on many pages of this textbook.

EXERCISES

I. Point out key and echo words in the paragraphs given on pages

101-105.

II. Write paragraphs upon one or more of the following topic sentences, employing key and echo words:

The automobile will never entirely displace the horse.

The setting apart of Sunday as a holiday was a great service to the human race.

66

66

A bungalow differs from the usual city house in several respects. Transitional Words as Aids to Coherence. Quite as useful as the key and echo words in the development of the paragraph are the transitional words which connect sentence with sentence. Such words as "thus," So, "hence," "also," "yet,' nevertheless," "however," moreover," "consequently," "inasmuch," are guideposts; that is, they point the direction of thought. "Yet," as an instance of this, denotes that an opposing or qualifying statement follows one just made; "consequently " denotes a concluding statement to succeed one that has not been of that nature. If we use these words in paragraph writing for the purpose of showing the transitions from one part of the thought to another, the Coherence which clear thinking will give to our paragraph is sure to be evident to the reader. The guideposts" mark the way from sentence to sentence, and point out shades of meaning which we would find it impossible to indicate were such words not part and parcel of our working vocabulary. Note their use in paragraphs, learn them, and use them freely. Nothing is a greater aid to clearness in writing.

EXERCISES

I. In the following paragraph insert the proper connecting words and note the added clearness and coherence. See also the exercise on page 143.

The Turks idled in their capital, trusting in their prestige and

their ancient good fortune.

the enemy was gathering.

in a province recently their own his relative inferiority he was prepar

ing to take advantage of the first opportunity for war.

He was not

idle. he was busy training an army in the latest methods of Western science. science alone could not have accounted for his early successes. It was an energy born of long desire for vengeance which hurled the Balkan regiments forward. The rout of the Turks was - inevitable. Under different circumstances

the Powers might have saved them.

the Powers in this instance,

even if they had wished to act, would have been too late.

II. In the paragraphs below note the use of transition words. We wish to add a few words relative to another subject on which the enemies of Milton delight to dwell his conduct during the administration of the Protector. That an enthusiastic votary of liberty should accept office under a military usurper seems, no doubt, at first sight, extraordinary. But all the circumstances in which the country was then placed were extraordinary. The ambition of Oliver was of no vulgar kind. He never seems to have coveted despotic power. He at first fought sincerely and manfully for the Parliament, and never deserted it till it had deserted its duty. If he dissolved it by force, it was not till he found that the few members who remained after so many deaths, secessions, and expulsions, were desirous to appropriate to themselves a power which they held only in trust, and to inflict upon England the curse of a Venetian oligarchy. But even when thus placed by violence at the head of affairs, he did not assume unlimited power. He gave the country a constitution far more perfect than any which had at that time been known in the world. He reformed the representative system in a manner which has extorted praise even from Lord Clarendon. For himself he demanded indeed the first place in the commonwealth; but with powers scarcely so great as those of a Dutch stadtholder, or an American president. He gave the Parliament a voice in the appointment of ministers, and left to it the whole legislative authority, not even reserving to himself a veto on its enactments; and he did not require that the chief magistracy should be hereditary

in his family. Thus far, we think, if the circumstances of the time and the opportunities which he had of aggrandizing himself be fairly considered, he will not lose by comparison with Washington or Bolivar. Had his moderation been met by corresponding moderation, there is no reason to think that he would have overstepped the line which he had traced for himself. But when he found that his parliaments questioned the authority under which they met, and that he was in danger of being deprived of the restricted power which was absolutely necessary to his personal safety, then, it must be acknowledged, he adopted a more arbitrary policy.

Yet, though we believe that the intentions of Cromwell were at first honest, though we believe that he was driven from the noble course which he had marked out for himself by the almost irresistible force of circumstances, though we admire, in common with all men of all parties, the ability and energy of his splendid administration, we are not pleading for arbitrary and lawless power, even in his hands. We know that a good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot. But we suspect that, at the time of which we speak, the violence of religious and political enmities rendered a stable and happy settlement next to impossible. The choice lay, not between Cromwell and liberty, but between Cromwell and the Stuarts. That Milton chose well, no man can doubt who fairly compares the events of the protectorate with those of the thirty years which succeeded it, the darkest and most disgraceful in the English annals. Cromwell was evidently laying, though in an irregular manner, the foundations of an admirable system. Never before had religious liberty and the freedom of discussion been enjoyed in a greater degree. Never had the national honor been better upheld abroad, or the seat of justice better filled at home. And it was rarely that any opposition which stopped short of open rebellion provoked the resentment of the liberal and magnanimous usurper. The institutions which he had established, as set down in the Instrument of Government, and the Humble Petition and Advice, were excellent. His practice, it is true, too often departed from the theory of these institutions. But had he lived a few years longer, it is probable that his institutions would have survived him, and

that his arbitrary practice would have died with him. His power had not been consecrated by ancient prejudices. It was upheld only by his great personal qualities. Little, therefore, was to be dreaded from a second protector, unless he were also a second Oliver Cromwell. The events which followed his decease are the most complete vindication of those who exerted themselves to uphold his authority. His death dissolved the whole frame of society. The army rose against the Parliament, the different corps of the army against each other. Sect raved against sect. Party plotted against party. The Presbyterians, in their eagerness to be revenged on the Independents, sacrificed their own liberty, and deserted all their old principles. Without casting one glance on the past, or requiring one stipulation for the future, they threw down their freedom at the feet of the most frivolous and heartless of tyrants. MACAULAY'S Essay on Milton. III. Study the "guideposts" in the paragraphs of pages 100-105.

Paragraph Length. — There is still to be noted an important application of Unity in the paragraph. The question, How long is a paragraph? may trouble you. The answer is As long as the development of the thought requires. But this answer should be qualified by adding that paragraphs of only a few lines in length will usually prove to be parts of the next or the preceding paragraph thought in the essay, or article, and should be combined with it; while paragraphs that run much over three hundred words will usually be found to consist of more than one paragraph thought and should be split. (There is no rigid rule. It is a question of the application of judgment and common sense to your material. In other words, it is a question of what division of your subject will result in the highest degree of Unity.

The Germans are the greatest offenders in the matter of the long paragraph. An American reader finds their paragraphs, which cover sometimes two or three printed pages, most wearisome, because they usually contain, without dis