Practical English Composition Part 22

VI. Comments and Exercises

1. What is the point of this editorial?

2. Note the point of each paragraph: (Par. 1) Our colleges might furnish the means of remedying our national lack of preparation for war; (Par. 2) at present our athletics benefit only a few individuals; (Par. 3) if military training were introduced into our colleges, it would benefit both individuals and the nation.

3. A more logical arrangement would be: (Par. 1) The United States is not prepared for war; (Par. 2) as now organized, our college athletics benefit only a few individuals; (Par. 3) if military training were introduced into our colleges, individual students and the nation alike would be benefited.

4. In which arrangement is paragraph unity better observed?

5. Is the arrangement in the model better in any respect than the one suggested?

6. The following words are hackneyed: "wofully," "utterly,"

"inestimable," "magnificent," "groundwork." Suggest some synonyms.

Can any of these words be omitted? Lowell's rule was: "Cut out the adjectives and adverbs. Make the nouns and verbs do the work."

7. Explain the construction of "with but very little warning," "for the purpose," "from other inst.i.tutions," "physically,"

"utterly," "drill."

8. What is the difference between "development" and "training"?

Between "true patriotism" and "unselfish public service"?

"College" and "university"?

9. Does this model contain any misstatements of fact?

10. Is the plan feasible or desirable?

11. Could it be extended to secondary schools?

12. Find in the model at least four mixed metaphors. If you do not know what a mixed metaphor is, perhaps this cla.s.sic example of one will inform you: "Mr. Speaker, I smell a rat. I see him brewing in the air. But, mark me, I shall yet nip him in the bud."

13. Discuss the meaning and etymology of "crisis," "disaster,"

"political," "physical," "nation," "revolutionize,"

"educational," "athletics," "inst.i.tutions," "disciplined,"

"military," "supervision," "experts," "auspices," "spirit,"

"instilled," "nucleus," "corps," "recruited," "additional."

14. Shall we say "instilled in," "instilled into," or "developed in"?

15. Write an answer to Model II.

16. The great merits of Model II lie in its content and its construction. The fundamental principle on which it is built might be called the "killing-two-birds-with-one-stone idea." Two things are wrong; one reform will make both right. Can you think of any other subject which might be discussed on the same principle?

VII. Suggested Reading

Lamb's _Dissertation on Roast Pig_. Addison's _Hilpa and Shalum_.

Emerson's _Compensation_. Holmes's _The Broomstick Train_.

VIII. Memorize

METRICAL FEET[12]

Tro?che?e | tri?ps from | lo?ng to | sho?rt ||; Fr?om lo?ng | to lo?ng | i?n s?ol|e?mn so?rt Slo?w Spo?n|de?e stalks; || stro?ng fo?ot, yet | ill able Ever to | ke?ep up with | Da?cty?l tri|syllable; Ia?m|bus moves | from sho?rt | to lo?ng; With a le?ap | and a bou?nd | the swift An|apests thro?ng.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.

[12] Coleridge here ill.u.s.trates the feet while explaining them, an admirable device in exposition. "Dactyl" is a fine word; in Greek it means "finger"; like a finger, a poetic dactyl has three parts, one long and two short. "Anapest" comes from a Greek verb which means "strike back"; an anapest is a reversed dactyl. Most English poems are written in iambi. Longfellow's _Hiawatha_ is in trochees, _Evangeline_ in dactyls, and _The Destruction of Sennacherib_ (see page 70) in anapests.

CHAPTER XVII

EDITORIALS--DESTRUCTIVE

"O great corrector of enormous times, Shaker of o'er-rank states, thou grand decider Of dusty and old t.i.tles, that healest with blood The earth when it is sick, and curest the world O' the pleurisy of people!"

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

I. Introduction

In Chapter XVI constructive editorials were discussed. The object of this chapter is to present a few exercises on destructive editorials.

Their object, of course, is not really to create ruin; it is merely to clear away rubbish in order to prepare the ground for the edifice of truth.

II. a.s.signment

Write an editorial in reply to an editorial in which a false position is a.s.sumed by the writer.

III. Model I

Vice-President Marshall's declaration, made some time ago at Wabash College, that the old man is being shoved off the stage everywhere, needs revision, as does the opinion of another statesman that men over fifty are atrophied.

In the last great war between France and Germany the campaign was planned and led by elderly men. The Emperor William, then King of Prussia, was in his seventy-fourth year; Von Moltke, the master strategist of the war, was seventy-one years old; General von Roon was sixty-eight; and Bismarck, the master mind in the larger field, was in his fifty-sixth year.

In the next great war in which high military efficiency was displayed, Admiral Togo was approaching his sixtieth year when he took the field; Prince Oyama, the commander-in-chief of the j.a.panese forces in Manchuria, had pa.s.sed his sixtieth year; Field Marshal Nodzu was sixty-three; Field Marshal Yamagata was sixty-six; General Kuroki was sixty; and General Nogi, who took Port Arthur after a series of desperate conflicts, carried on with unflinching energy and almost breathless rapidity, was nearly sixty years of age.

In the present war Lord Kitchener, the organizing genius of the English army, is sixty-four; and Sir John French, commanding the English forces in the field, is sixty-two. When Lord Roberts was sent to South Africa to s.n.a.t.c.h victory out of defeat, he was sixty-eight years of age.

On the French side, General Joffre is sixty-two; General Pau is sixty-six; General Castelnau, the third in command, is well advanced in the sixties; and General Gallieni, who is in command of the defenses of Paris, is seventy.

The German armies are also led by a group of elderly men. Count von Huelsenberg has reached the mature age of seventy-eight; Field Marshal von der Goltz is seventy-one; General von Kluck has reached his sixty-eighth year; General von Emmich was sixty-six; and General von Hindenberg is sixty-seven.

These figures suggest that, while fifty may be the deadline among Democratic statesmen, it appears to be a kind of life-line among great leaders abroad.--Adapted from _The Outlook_, November 11, 1914.[13]

[13] Reprinted by permission of _The Outlook_.