1. Daily we read in the newspapers of gruesome murders and horrible accidents in which the precious life-blood of scores of mortals is spilt and the thread of life snapped in an instant. Railroad wrecks, automobile fatalities, airship catastrophes, homicides, all tend toward an appreciable decrease in the national census. But of all these horrors, none, perhaps, is more ghastly, and certainly none more numerous, than those arising from the misuse of gasoline, or a lack of care in handling that extremely volatile fluid. Not until the public is educated to have a wholesome respect for gasoline will such accidents stop.

2. Each year, a week before the many attractions of Coney Island close, there is a celebration called the Mardi Gras. Every evening during the celebration, many automobiles go through the Island and back. There is much joking carried on by the occupants of one car with those of another. I had my machine alongside the curb while everybody in it was throwing confetti and streamers at the passing automobiles. Suddenly, a large touring car was forced to stop abruptly by command of the officer in charge of the traffic. A small touring car that was back of the large car, did not have time to stop, and there was a collision. The smaller car had rammed the other car's gasoline tank and there was great danger of an explosion, but none came. After many attempts to separate the two cars, the auto-truck succeeded, but only after two jacks had been placed between the two cars.

XIII. Explain the term "emphasis" as applied to the paragraph. Rewrite the faulty examples in Section 128. Criticise specifically the following paragraphs:

1. Edward Watson, the celebrated actor of the "Pudd'nhead Wilson" company, who was in full health and vigor yesterday, is today lying a corpse in a private room at the Chateau Frontenac. He arrived in our city late last evening, and passed away to his long home most unexpectedly, shortly after two o'clock this morning, in the presence of three other gentlemen. The news of his untimely end was a shock to the members of the company, to whom he had endeared himself by his kindly and jolly disposition. Mr. Watson arrived in this city, accompanied by his wife and daughter and the members of the company, last evening, and was met at the station by several residents of Quebec, who accompanied him to the Chateau Frontenac.

2. About two weeks ago I was invited to join a party that was going to Plymouth. We started from Boston at 10 o'clock and arrived there at twelve. Carriages awaited us at the station, and we drove at once to a hotel, where dinner was served. After dinner we visited almost all the places of interest, among them the Museum, Plymouth Rock, and the old historic cemetery. This cemetery was the burial place of some of the Pilgrims who died during the first winter's stay in Plymouth. There is very little business going on in Plymouth, but the town is visited by many travelers and historical societies.

3. To any one who wishes to get an idea of life in a jungle, or even of the customs of the people in the Arctic regions, Kipling's Second Jungle Book will give many definite impressions. This knowledge of the jungle is given by taking an imaginary man, or rather a boy, who is called Mowgli. His life is associated with that of the many different animals of the jungle. In this way the instincts and characteristics of the animals are described in a very realistic manner, which manifests the great power of imagination that the writer possesses. It is very interesting to read how Mowgli kept the good favor of the great masters of the jungle. The chapter which tells of his escape from the pack of wolves can not but interest the reader. 4. The train stopped at a small country station in Maine and a middle aged woman stepped off. Some baggage was taken off also. It consisted of two crates of oranges, five bunches of bananas, and a casket. No passengers were expected on that train, so there was only ore farmer there with his wagon.

The crates of oranges, the bananas, and the casket were placed on the wagon, and the woman appeared around the corner of the station. She stepped up to the farmer and asked him if there was any conveyance to take her to the village. He replied that there wasn't any, as no passengers had been expected. After thinking deeply for awhile he said: “I can take you if you don't mind riding on a casket." She hesitated at first, but finally accepted, because she had to reach the village that night. So the farmer jumped in and sat on one end of the casket to drive the horse. The lady got in as well as she could and sat on the other end. As they rode along the beautiful country roads he explained to her that there was to be a funeral the next day. "Oh," she replied, "the casket is empty, then; now I can ride with more ease." After keeping silent for about a mile, the farmer asked her if she liked oranges. She replied that she was very fond of them. They had approached a small country store, and the farmer stopped his horse in front of it. He

jumped out and hurried in. Soon he came back with three oranges in a bag. He took one out and gave it to his companion. The other two he ate himself. The rest of their pleasant journey on the casket was uninterrupted.

XIV. Show how emphasis is attained in the following paragraph:

He was a sociably inclined old veteran; and when he heard that a reception was to be given the Grand Army, produced his worn uniform from the chest where it had been stored by his careful wife, and donned it in pleasant anticipation of meeting old comrades and recalling old times. He turned himself about before the looking glass, very proud of the blue uniform that fitted his rotund form so tightly. As he entered the hall he was warmly greeted, and his good nature increased till it beamed from his glistening, round face. But one by one his old companions drifted away from him. If a smile welcomed him, the smile changed quickly into a muttered apology and he was left alone. If he approached a group of chatting veterans, it would dissolve as if into air. Perplexity spread over the genial countenance, and a forlorn spirit succeeded pleasure, till at last he turned homeward, a desolate, lonely old man. As he entered :he house, he was met by his wife, who had been away on a visit to their daughter. She exclaimed at his uniform, but before he could finish his explanation, turned up her nose and cried in horror, "Why Charles! you didn't take the moth-balls out of your pockets."

CHAPTER XXIII

THE STRUCTURE OF THE WHOLE COMPOSITION

130. Fundamental Differences Between the Whole Composition and the Sentence and the Paragraph. The term "whole composition" includes any completed piece of writing, be it anecdote, short story, novel, news item, biography, history, editorial, criticism, essay, political argument, or explanation of a scientific law. The length of a whole composition may vary from the half-column devoted to an editorial, to the five volumes Ruskin devotes to his account of modern painters. Long or short, the whole composition is, so far as the writer can manage it in the space at his disposal, a complete account of his subject. Therein lies the fundamental distinction between the sentence or the paragraph, and the whole composition. To be sure, a sentence may exist as an independent unit in the form of an aphorism or an epigram; and a very brief whole composition may consist of a single paragraph. Ordinarily, however, both sentence and paragraph are merely subordinate parts of a larger whole, and their bearing is clear only when they are viewed in their relation to the surrounding sentences and paragraphs. The whole composition, then, may be defined as a paragraph or series of paragraphs in which some one subject or part of a subject complete in itself, is treated as a whole.

Though length is not the distinguishing difference between the whole composition and the sentence or the paragraph, length is still a very important element. The sentence is so small a unit that we do not stop to think about its form before we utter it; it utters itself, so to speak. The paragraph, particularly if it be a long

one, demands some forethought, perhaps some definite planning, but its comparative brevity makes it possible for a practiced writer to do this planning in his head; most often, indeed, the structure of a paragraph works itself out as he writes. With the whole composition, the case is very different; here, forethought and planning are extremely important. Thoreau, says Stevenson, "composed seemingly while he walked;" and Thoreau himself spoke of writing as a very easy matter-"As for style of writing, if one has anything to say it drops from him simply as a stone falls to the ground." But, as Stevenson points out, Thoreau here leaves out of account the long preliminary consideration he gave to his subjects.

When truth flows from a man, fittingly clothed in style and without conscious effort, it is because the effort has been made and the work practically completed before he sat down to write. It is only out of fulness of thinking that expression drops perfect like a ripe fruit; and when Thoreau wrote so nonchalantly at his desk, it was because he had been vigorously active during his walk.— Stevenson: Familiar Studies of Men and Books.

Much the same idea is expressed by De Quincey in his Essay on Style:

Every man, as he walks through the streets, may contrive to jot down an independent thought; a short-hand memorandum of a great truth . . . standing on one leg, you may accomplish this. The labor of composition begins when you have to put your separate threads of thought into a loom; to weave them into a continuous whole; to connect, to introduce them; to blow them out or expand them; to carry them to a close

The gulf separating the first conception of a composition from the finished product may be shown concretely by comparing some well known bits of literature with the authors' first jottings-down of the subjects. The

1Quoted by G. R. Carpenter, in Exercises in Rhetoric and Composition.